A Future Without a Future
by Wyl
Summary: Tierkreis - The fate of the world hangs in balance on the edge of a reluctant hero's blade as he leads a motley collection of Starbearers. In the end, is fate already predetermined? Is a future without a future anything more than an illusion?
1. Author's Foreword

**Author's Note/Foreword**

I'm including this "foreword" here to provide the background on the story and my approach with it. If you don't care about that stuff, you can just click over to the next/first chapter now and save yourself some reading :-) I very sparingly use author notes on individual chapters throughout the story, so the vast majority of my own commentary on the story is contained within this chapter/foreword.

This is a Suikoden Tierkreis story that is a _loose _novelization. By "loose" I mean it mostly follows the plot of the game, though I've taken liberties with it in some areas as it suits my interests. I don't believe I ever cross over into AU though, I've tried to keep the characters in character while at the same time adding a lot more depth than they get in the game. Some of my "taking liberties" is in having romantic pairings of characters, some is just the fact that I've written tons of day-to-day conversations and interactions that fit within the context/plot of the story but aren't things you see in the game itself. Basically I've put much more emphasis on relationships (both romantic and non-romantic) and character interactions within the context of the story. Whereas a lot of RPC fans prefer to solo the hero and only pay as much attention to their companions as they are forced to, what I like best about RPGs is the story driven nature and the growth/development of the hero, companions, and allies/enemies as the story progresses. So if you're the type that clicks through the dialogue sequences as fast as you can in order to get back to the killing, this story may seem a bit slow paced for you :-) There *are* long detailed action scenes, but also a lot of conversational scenes with extended dialogue between characters. Needless to say, there are tons of spoilers for the game if you haven't finished it, though I'm not really sure why anyone would want to read a fanfic of a game they haven't finished and expect not to have it spoiled.

The title "_A Future without a Future_" comes from a key sequence late in the game regarding the real implications of a predetermined future.

My hero in the story is named 'Fret'. That's what I almost always use for the first name of the hero when a game let's you choose one. I don't remember when I started using that name because it's been maybe 15 years? I want to say that it came from the random name generator on an RPG from the early to mid-'90s.

Company and castle names... I named my company 'Cherem Company' (the 'ch' is pronounced like a 'k'). That's a transliteration of the Hebrew word in the Old Testament that meant "kill 'em all" – the concept of killing your enemy down to the last woman, child, and farm animal (leave nothing alive). At the time I had to come up with a company name in ST I was of the mindset of completely laying waste to the Order of the One True Way. Obviously I found out as I played through the game that while you can choose to be a jerk at times, your character is "predetermined" to be a good guy :-) I named the castle 'Starcache', which is an extremely lame play on the idea of collecting/caching Starbearers to join your company. I should've spent more than 30 seconds thinking about a name, but then later I laughed about it because that's pretty much what the ADHD hero of ST would've done.

I decided to start the story about halfway through the game and fill in the front half of the story through a combination of character memories/stories and basic plot summarization. I somewhat arbitrarily refer to the timeline as being about a year after the start of the game, but admittedly that's rather compressed when you look at how much time actually elapses in the game on some of those long runs to places like Salsabil or the Coastal Caves. But it seems less reasonable to be more literal and suggest that we're more like 4-5 years into the Citro gang's war with the Order, so we're condensing it to where the entire game takes place in about 18 seasons (ST equivalent of months).

I know the snow fairy sidequest I start with can be done much earlier in the game, however, stupid me glossed over the hint to ask Dogha about the snow fairy after getting plowed by her the first time. I took it to mean I had to bring Dogha with me. Of course she doesn't show up if you've got Dogha in your party, so then I confused myself into thinking she must only appear during certain seasons, and that led to a simple quest becoming very frustrating! I generally avoid walkthroughs unless I'm completely stuck, but this was one of the few times I hit up a walkthrough while playing the game. And then I felt like a complete idiot because I didn't read the hint the game gave correctly. All RPGs should have journals! Another mission I didn't complete until much later than I could have was "Find Icas," because initially I failed it a couple of times from not having enough of the right party members available, and then I just didn't go back to it for a long time. So if it seems out of place in my story, that's why.

I'm not one of those idiotic authors who will threaten to pull their story or stop updating if they don't get reviews. Seeing author notes like that is a sure fire way to get me to hit the 'back' button and move on to another story. However, constructive feedback is appreciated if you're so inclined to leave it, because I'm using this fanfic as practice before tackling an original work I have in mind. I recognize some weaknesses in my writing that I'm trying to improve, but it's always helpful getting unbiased feedback. Hopefully you enjoy the story regardless…

Wyl


	2. Hell Frozen Over

The gusting wind whipped up around the small band of adventurers, blowing a fresh dusting of snow on them. "Ugh, this sucks!" moaned Fret, the 16 year old de facto leader of Cherem Company. He swatted aside the remains of yet another dead monster left in their wake and trudged forward along the snow covered trail in the Ch'olui Mountains. "Are we even close to being there yet? And whose great idea was it not to buy something warmer to wear back at Tehah Village?"

"Are you trying to set some kind of record for the longest time continuously whining?" asked an exasperated Marica, his best friend since early in life. Best friend or not, she was usually the one who kept him in check and had no problem griping at him when he needed it. She wasn't any happier about the situation, with the cold wind whipping around the pony tails that managed her long white hair and peppering her alabaster skin with snow flurries. The long journey west from their Castle Starcache headquarters through the expansive Gineh Valley to Tehah Village had been wearying enough, and now this "day trip" northwest from Tehah up into the Ch'olui Mountains was turning out to be much more arduous than expected.

"I'm tired, cold, hungry, and I just want to get this stupid mission over with!" replied Fret angrily. "Why did we have to head out so freakin' early this morning anyway?"

Asad, the former commander of the Second Mage Army of Janam and current member of Cherem Company, sighed. "Lord Fret, you already know why. We needed to leave early to make sure we're back down the mountain before nightfall." Asad's mage robes offered him better protection from the weather than the armor his companions wore, but the wind still beat down on the skin of his light brown face and whipped his shoulder length red hair around. Asad was from El-Qaral, the capital of the Magedom of Janam located in the far east on the continent, a land known for its hot arid weather. So he was even less used to the cold than the others, but was determined not to show it.

"And how can you even be cold anyway?" sneered Roberto, adjusting his azure headband to keep his long blonde hair out of his ocean blue eyes. "We can't seem to go more than a few steps on this forsaken mountain without getting attacked by something, if anything you should be sweating from all the fighting!"

Roberto was the youngest member of the _Blades of Night's Veil_ forces, sword masters from the kingdom of Astrasia in the northwestern part of the continent, further north and west than the Ch'olui Mountains but still a long ways from the western coast. The kingdom fell a couple of years prior to the military might of the Order of the One True Way, its king and queen killed during the siege on its capital, Pharamond. The Blades of Night's Veil were the remnants of the elite Astrasia royal forces, and were led by princess Chrodechild, eldest of two daughters of the Astrasian royal family. After the fall of Astrasia the Blades had joined up with the Magedom of Janam, which was the largest kingdom left with the strength and resources to resist the Order of the One True Way. Approximately 9 seasons ago the leader of the Magedom, Mage Lord Danash VIII, attempted to coerce Chrodechild into becoming his 4th wife, to the point of discrediting the Blades by intentionally setting them up to fail in a few key battles. Cherem Company was a relatively new ally to the Magedom at that time, but when Fret caught on that the Mage Lord was also attempting to create animosity and in-fighting between Cherem Company and the Blades to further his own agenda of securing Chrodechild for a wife, Fret orchestrated a plan that resulted in Cherem Company and the Blades of Night's Veil leaving the Magedom. Asad and a couple of other key members of the Mage Army came along with them. After failing in an attempt to stop them, the Mage Lord decreed that Cherem Company was to be viewed as neither ally nor foe, and the Blades formally joined as members of Cherem Company at their castle headquarters.

The current team was on the snow covered Ch'olui Mountains, tracking down a 'snow fairy' that had apparently been harassing villagers from nearby Tehah Village. They'd been making their way up the mountain for hours towards the area where the snow fairy had last been seen, but it had been slow going due to a steady stream of encounters with wandering monsters along the mountain trail. What was supposed to be a simple mission was rapidly turning into more trouble than it was worth.

"Sheesh! Alright already!" Fret grumbled in response to Roberto's chiding. "My head's killing me and I'm pretty sure I'm getting sick, but I'll just keep it to myself!"

"It sounds like you are suffering from hypochondria. That's something I can help with," said Eunice, the nurse assistant to Cherem Company's doctor Zahra and support person on this particular mission. "Here, take this medicine and you'll feel better shortly."

"Hypo-what? Is that something bad?"

Eunice smiled sweetly. "No, it's a condition of the brain that is very treatable. Like I was saying, take this medicine and you'll be fine in a little bit."

"You'd better listen to her Fret, you can't afford to have your brain any more affected than it already is," said Marica sarcastically.

Asad was fighting a losing battle to stifle his laughter. He was the only one to have understood what Eunice has actually said, and he found it hysterically funny.

"What, Asad? You think me having some brain affliction is funny?" asked Fret in an irritated voice.

Marica and Roberto looked over at Asad, equally puzzled by his reaction. At Fret's last comment, Asad completely lost it and burst out laughing, so much that tears were streaming down his face and he was struggling to breathe as he tried to talk. Eunice turned away from the group, doing everything she could to keep from laughing herself.

When he didn't get a response, Fret dismissively said "never mind, let's just keep moving. Hopefully that stupid snow fairy is close by." He scanned the horizon through wind hazed eyes, and resumed the tedious march once he was confident that there were no approaching threats. As he pressed forward, he couldn't help but reflect on how different his life was now than it was a year ago. It was like nothing he could have predicted.

* * *

It began with a seemingly innocent laggart hunt about a year ago with his friends Jale, Marica, Liu, and Dirk in the eastern hills outside of Citro Village, where they all lived. Citro Village was a small mostly farming community in the south central region of the continent. Dirk was the oldest of the group, at age 25 he had a decade on his companions, who were all 15. Dirk led the small militia that the teens were a part of, and back then was equal parts instructor, mentor, and friend. Of the five, only Fret and Liu hadn't actually been born and raised in Citro. Fret had been raised in Citro, but his origins were a mystery. He had been found and brought to the little village as an infant and was raised in the home of the village elder, Rajim, who was also Marica's father. Elder Rajim also had a daughter named Sisuca, who was 9 years older than Fret and Marica and was a sort of surrogate mother them. They'd never admit it though, in large part because Sisuca liked to refer to herself as their 'mommy', something they found creepy. Liu was neither born nor raised in Citro. Having wandered into the village when he was 12, after a period of time he decided to stay. Liu was never one to talk much about his past, though it had been recently discovered that Liu was from a secretive tribe known as the Scribes that lived in a hidden village in the Noslaw Woods, far to the northwest of Citro. That was discovered after a surprise attack on the imperial palace they were defending in Pharamond resulted in Fret, Liu, and princess Chrodechild being pulled into the Ravine of Infinity and from there into the Scribe village. Events there led to the village elder passing, and the Elder Scribe title being passed on to Liu through the granting of the _Tatau Council_ Chronicle in the form of special tattoos.

While on the mission to quell the laggart unrest, the group came across a strange book that all but Dirk received a vision from. The book turned out to be a Chronicle, which was a tome that contained all of the histories of a particular world and granted magical powers called "marks of the stars" to those who received the vision, the so-called Starbearers. That particular Chronicle was the Chronicle of the _Shining Legacy_, though they had learned since then that there were other Chronicles for the various worlds in the Infinity. They had also learned that the leader of the Order of the One True Way, Lord Chancellor Valfred, was collecting them along with the True Chronicle of this world in an attempt to summon the One King and unite this world to his. It was all somehow tied up in his quasi-religious notion of a world where everything was predetermined. Somehow other worlds in the Infinity were being merged into this world, and when that happened the Chronicle of that world also appeared. To the Order, the Chronicles from other worlds were "False Chronicles" in this world, and conversely the Chronicle of this world was the "True Chronicle."

Strange things began to happen during the discovery of _Shining Legacy_, such as Flesaria Forest appearing on the Citro plains and no one but the Starbearers realizing it hadn't always been there. While investigating the forest, the group ran into a double of Marica from another world, and then a group known as Wanderers that traveled as merchants from world to world buying and selling goods. One of the Wanderers, a middle-aged man named Hotupa, agreed to travel with Fret, Jale, and Marica north to Cynas, which happened to be the headquarters of the Order of the One True Way in addition to housing the largest library in the land. To get into Order territory they had to pass through the village of Grayridge north of Citro, and then through the Order's military stronghold at Fort Arc.

At Grayridge they found out they needed a "pass" to travel in Order territory, and it was here that the adventure really started getting going. Their attempt to get a pass from the Grayridge Order secretary was initially denied, and within a day the group found themselves involved in a plot to find evidence of corruption against this secretary Macoute. They eventually succeeded with the help of some new friends, and then made their way to Cynas.

If Grayridge was when the action picked up, it was coming back from Cynas when the group reached the point of no return. They were attacked by Archivists from the Order, which were Order equivalent of Starbearers. They would have been sunk except that the Blades of Night's Veil and the Second Mage Army from the Magedom of Janam in El-Qaral came to the unexpected rescue. That was when the group met Chrodechild and Asad, and shortly thereafter became embroiled in the war between the Magedom and the Order. That was also when they took up residence in the Flesaria Forest ruins north of Citro Village and south of Grayridge that eventually became Castle Starcache, and when Cherem Company was born.

After getting sucked into the political intrigue in El-Qaral involving the Mage Lord Danash and his three wives, and gaining many new allies including the non-human Porpos-kin among others, Cherem Company's numbers swelled as they left the Magedom and accepted in other Magedom allies that left and joined up with them. After that they made a priority of reclaiming the Kingdom of Astrasia, and captured the palace in Pharamond to complete that effort. They had also gained a new non-human alliance with the Furious Roar, a tribe of creatures that walked and fought much like humans, but had the physical appearance of cats.

The Order tried to retake Pharamond, and while the defense was successful, the Order Archivists did succeed in stealing 4 of the 7 Chronicles held by Cherem Company. That was the battle that resulted in being drawn into the Ravine of Infinity and into the Scribes village, where Liu ended up receiving the Chronicle of the Scribe's original world. After leaving the village of the Scribes, all of Cherem Company regrouped at Castle Starcache to being the process of figuring out what to do next. Rather than being completely inactive, the Company had taken to working a number of jobs and mission requests that had come in. And at times it seemed like each new mission resulted in recruiting one or more new Starbearers, as the members of Cherem Company had grown to about 75 over the seasons. One of the Wanderers, Moana, had taken it upon herself to organize and keep track of the requests, which was a huge help. However, while the income from all of the side quests had been nice, and extremely useful in dealing with the costs of feeding and equipping the rapidly growing numbers, Cherem Company had gotten a little too distracted by taking on every little request that came in. That's how they had ended up here on the Ch'olui Mountains searching for a 'snow fairy' that Fret wasn't completely convinced even existed, instead of making plans to recover the stolen Chronicles.

* * *

The five party members fell back into formation. Fret and Roberto formed the front line, taking position on the left and right sides respectively. Both teenage boys wielded a pair of the custom black blades used by the Blades of Night's Veil. Marica trailed Fret, wielding an exquisite Sky-Rend longbow, and Asad trailed Roberto with his magical sapphire staff. Each followed about 20' behind the person in front. Eunice, the support person who cured the group of battle conditions such as poison and paralysis and such, brought up the rear about 10' further back still. As the group resumed their march, Asad fell a little further back from his back line position in the formation and whispered to Eunice, "you know you've got to tell him what 'hypochondria' is right? Otherwise he's going to make a fool out of himself later when he mentions it to others."

Eunice nodded. "I think I'll wait until he's in a better mood though."

Asad smiled broadly, "I have to say my lady, that was brilliantly funny!"

Marica had noticed Asad drop back and start whispering back and forth with Eunice. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she had a strong feeling they were talking about Fret. As much as she liked to tease him, she had to admit to herself that she was somewhat concerned about this hypowhatever thing. And she was very curious as to Asad's strange reaction. So she slid over to the two.

"Okay guys," she whispered sternly. "Fill me in on what happened back there."

Asad and Eunice looked at each other. Asad smiled at Eunice and nodded, whispering cryptically "it might be for the best to let Marica tell him anyway," before leaving the two women and returning to his position in the formation.

Marica looked at Eunice with an expression mixed with confusion and concern. Eunice smiled and whispered "don't laugh too loud when I explain unless you want him back here asking questions right away." Marica nodded in confusion, prompting Eunice to continue.

"I told him he has hypochondria, which is a condition where someone thinks they are sick when they really aren't. It's 'all in his head' so to speak, but there's really nothing wrong with him. The only reason the medicine I gave him will make him feel better is because he thinks it will."

"Oh, wow…" breathed Marica, her lips curling up into a devious grin. "That was sooo evil, Eunice, I _love_ it!" She began giggling as she thought of the fun she could have at Fret's expense with this.

Eunice grinned back. "Asad reminded me though that it would be a good idea to uhhh, 'enlighten' Fret if you will, so he doesn't embarrass himself by mentioning it in front of others."

"Well, I doubt he'll even remember the word, but that's a good point. I'll clue him in tonight."

"He won't-"

"Hey, everyone!" called Fret. "I think we've got our snow fairy just ahead."

* * *

The party approached a strange looking lady with long blue hair, wearing a shimmering blue dress and long silk mage cowl to match.

"So, ummm, are you the snow fairy that has been terrorizing the villagers?" asked Fret.

"Do you like snow?" asked the mysterious lady.

Fret looked around at the members of his group, uncertain how to answer. "What kind of question is that? We're just trying to find out if you're the snow fairy the villagers were talking about."

"Do you like snow?" she asked again.

Fret let out an exasperated sigh, questioning to himself why he even took on this mission when Moana told him about it.

"Hey man, I don't think she's going to give us an answer until you answer her question," suggested Roberto.

Nodding in agreement to Roberto, he replied "sounds about right. So is that the way it's gonna go here, snow fairy?"

"Do you like snow?

"Oh yeah, let me tell you how much I like snow," started Fret. His voice beginning to rise, he continued "I love it so much that if I never see it again until the day I die it will be too soon!"

The last of the words had barely escaped his lips when everyone in the group was suddenly blown back and knocked down by a huge blast of frosted water.

Groaning as he got back to his feet, Roberto shook the snow and ice from his clothes and remarked, "Way to go, buddy, you sure know how to make friends."

"That was a lot like Marica's water spears mark of the stars ability, but uhh… no offense, that was a lot more powerful," offered Asad.

"No offense taken, Asad, that was quite a blast," agreed Marica.

"Hey, wait a minute! Where'd she go?" questioned Fret. "She nearly kills us all in one shot and then just disappears? What now?"

Asad leaned against his staff as he contemplated the situation. "Let's look around a little a bit and see if we can find her. If we can't I suppose we'll have to head back."

"What? We can't just go back to Tehah Village and come back tomorrow!"

"And what would you have us do, Fret?" countered Marica. "Stay up here until after dark and freeze to death? Just where is your head today, because it certainly isn't here!"

"Maybe that old guy Dogha back at Castle Starcache knows something about her, he lived up here for a lot of years," Roberto suggested.

"Fine…" muttered Fret, sulking as he walked away from the group and further up the trail.

Raising her hand, Marica in mock excitement asked, "So who else votes that we leave him here and go back to Tehah Village?"

Asad shook his head. "You two certainly have a strange relationship." With that he began walking after Fret.

"Relationship?" asked Marica, raising an eyebrow quizzically at Asad while Roberto snickered.

"Uhhh... yeah, well… I guess I'll go catch up with him," mumbled Roberto as he saw Marica's eyes shooting daggers into him.

* * *

Fret wandered a little further around a bend, muttering to himself about how wrong the day had gone, when a female voice called out, "Ru'ukahthis! It's you!"

"Huh? Ru-what? I think you've got the wrong-"

"Ru-ukahthis, it _is_ you!" the girl exclaimed. "I'm Maybelle, reborn from the Warrior of Light, Raphelancia! Don't you remember me, you said you'd never leave me?"

By this time the rest of the group had caught up. "Dude, what's with you and psycho mountain women today?" asked Roberto sarcastically.

Fret was just staring at the girl in disbelief. "I-I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know you!"

"But Ru-ukahthis, you told me before the battle we fought in together here 1000 years ago that we'd always be together! You're my fated lover, and now you've come back for me! How can you say you don't know me?"

Marica giggled. "Yeah, come on, Ru'ukahthis, what's your problem?" she grinned mischievously.

Fret looked at Marica in wide-eyed horror, with a pleading expression that screamed for help. She found the look amusing, then frowned when she recognized the genuine fear in his eyes. _"But what is he so freaked out about?"_ she thought. _"I'll have to ask him later…"_

"Look, lady – Maybelle – I don't know anything about a battle 1000 years ago or who this Ru'akasomething guy is, but I'm not him. My name is Fret, and I'm from Cherem Company back at Castle Starcache."

"Way to go, Fret," mocked Roberto. "Wanna draw her a map to your bedroom while you're at it?" Fret stood with his arms across his chest, pinching the bridge of his nose in visible annoyance.

"Cherem Company! I've heard of you guys! I know, I'll come visit you at your castle, and then we can be together forever as fate would have it!"

Now it was Marica's turn to get concerned, she didn't want this crazy girl causing problems back at the castle. They had enough to worry about without another distraction. She gulped, not knowing how Fret would react but feeling like she needed to do something to get rid of this girl.

"Listen, Maybelle, I don't know who you think this is, but Fret is with me and you need to back off!" sneered Marica. "He is _not_ your 'fated lover', he is _mine_ and you won't have him!"

Maybelle looked at her, then to Fret, and back to Marica. "No, I don't think you're right."

"Wh-what?" asked Marica incredulously.

Smirking, Maybelle replied "I saw the look on his face as you were ranting, looked like your spiel was news to him too."

"N-no, that's not it, you just freaked me out is all!" shouted Fret. "You need to just stay away from me!"

With that, Maybelle skipped off into the distance, but before getting out of sight shouted back, "see you again soon lover!"

"Oh, no…" Fret lamented. "What are the odds I'll get lucky and never see her again? Let's head back guys, we can rest up at Tehah tonight and then set out for Pharamond in the morning. Taking the gateway there will be a lot faster than going back east over land…"


	3. Reminiscing

Marica lazily strolled into the tavern at Castle Starcache, home to an ever increasing number of Starbearers that had joined up with Cherem Company to fight against the Order of the One True Way. This was a well-deserved a day of rest for her and the others that had just returned from the mission in the Ch'olui Mountains late the previous evening. She, Roberto, Asad, Eunice, and Fret had all been pretty well exhausted by the time they hit the Pharamond infinity gateway and made it back to the castle. She wasn't surprised to find the tavern nearly empty, after all it was nearly mid-morning. She had slept in for a change and was just now coming down for some breakfast. Glancing around, she also wasn't surprised that Fret wasn't present. Marica smirked slightly as she thought to herself that he likely wouldn't get out of bed for a few more hours unless she went up to his room and dragged him out. Other than the tavern/innkeeper Logan stacking up dishes to be washed and his daughter Erin wiping down tables, the only people in the tavern were Gorno and Gadburg. These two master craftsmen who shared a workshop in the castle were sitting at a table in the corner, no doubt discussing something to do with crafting equipment. The lack of people around was fine by Marica, as she was looking specifically for Erin anyway. Marica wanted to fill her in on the happenings from the latest mission since Erin hadn't gone with them. The lack of patrons meant Erin would be able to take a break and the two could sit down and catch up while she ate.

Marica grabbed a plate and picked through what was left of the breakfast buffet that Logan had put out, settling on some fruit and fresh baked muffins. As she was getting her food, she heard Erin loudly shriek her name when she finally noticed her. Marica laughed out loud and ran over and hugged Erin.

"Hey!" exclaimed Erin, "I haven't seen you in a season, when were you going to tell me you were back?"

Laughing, Marica replied "We only got back late last night, and I literally went straight upstairs and collapsed in bed. I've only been up long enough this morning to take a shower and come down here to find some food."

"Well, you're going to have to catch me up on your adventures. With our fearless leader involved I bet you've got some juicy stories," grinned Erin.

"Fearless and at times brainless," giggled Marica, causing both girls to laugh. "Oh, have I got stories to tell alright!"

"Cool! Well, you eat while I finish cleaning up here, then we'll catch up!"

* * *

As Marica ate her breakfast and waited for Erin to finish her work, her thoughts drifted to how the two had become great friends in the seasons since they met in Grayridge. It was especially surprising because of how rocky it had been at the start.

Originally Marica had been amused at the attention Erin was getting from Fret and Jale, another of her childhood friends from Citro Village, when Erin first joined up with them and the Wanderer Hotupa. They were helping Erin find evidence that the Order of the One True Way secretary that was presiding over Grayridge, Macoute, was corrupt and embezzling taxes from the people. That amusement quickly turned to annoyance as the boys fawned all over Erin, hanging on her every word and in combat protecting her like she was a fragile artifact that would shatter if hit once. Not that Marica would have wanted it, but they had never even tried to treat her that way at any time in all the years she'd known them. If anything, Fret, Jale, and their other good friend Liu always treated her like she was just one of the guys, and they expected her to pull her own weight as such. On the other hand, Erin was very pretty and feminine, and Marica couldn't help but compare herself to her.

It was ironic that she was even having these types of thoughts, as she'd never really thought about any of the guys as more than great friends, even though her older sister Sisuca had been teasing her for more than a year that she and Fret were going to end up together someday. But here she was feeling self-conscious that she didn't measure up to Erin in the girlish ways boys were interested in, and practically sulked the whole time they were exploring the Grayridge mine in search of evidence. At least until she'd almost gotten them killed anyway. Marica winced at the memory…

* * *

_The group of five trudged down a wide dimly lit corridor, having descended to the second level of the Grayridge mine. What little patience Marica had entered the mine with was long since gone. In reality, she was fuming inside and barely civil at this point. Fret and Jale were at the front, advancing down the left and right sides wielding a cudgel and iron fists respectively. Marica was backing up Fret with her bow and Logan, or 'Dad' as Fret called him like Erin did, was attacking from behind Jale with a spear. Behind them still further back was Erin, who was healing party members at the end of each round of combat. Well, in theory that's what she was doing. In practice she was healing her father anytime he got hit, regardless of how badly he was hurt in relation to the others. The situation had Marica half seething and half worrying. She was pissed off because she had earlier tried suggesting to Erin that she concentrate her healing on the person hurt the worst. Erin defensively replied that she was already doing that, and when Marica looked over at Fret and Jale for backup, neither of them stepped up. Jale just said he was too busy fighting to know what was going on behind him. Leaning on his spear and staring at the ground, Logan said they should concentrate more on fighting the enemies than each other. In his typical brain dead manner, Fret agreed with Logan and said they just needed to move on. While Marica didn't at all mind the three of them from Citro Village getting roped into helping the people of Grayridge expose that creepy old lecher Macoute, she did mind them risking their lives for people she felt were unwilling to share the risk. She thought that Logan should be in the front line and not hiding behind Jale. And Erin damn well shouldn't be wasting her healing on every nick and scratch Logan got when Jale or Fret, or even she needed it more. And yet those guys didn't seem to act like anything was wrong with it! _

"_Then again, why should they?" she thought. "It's not little Miss Perfect could possibly do something wrong anyway." _

_Marica was also worried, because it had become obvious to her that they were pressing further and further into a situation they were woefully underprepared to deal with. They were not expecting anywhere near the amount of monsters that they'd had to fight just to this point, and hadn't brought nearly enough healing supplies. Jale had used the last of the medicine two battles earlier, and they were unsure how much further they had to go. That combined with Erin not healing the person who needed it most meant that Marica was rapidly burning through her own recently awakened healing power. She wasn't sure, but she guessed she only had a few more healings left in her before she'd need to rest overnight to recover. And they were in no place to stop and rest if she ran out. _

"_Hostiles!" Fret shouted. _

_The sudden sound of his voice pierced the shroud of silence they'd be walking under, jostling Marica from her internal unrest. She realized that she hadn't been paying attention and had been walking on autopilot while lost in thought. _

"_Two spiked lizards on the front line and a shell baboon on the back line!" barked Jale. "Marica, concentrate on the baboon, everyone else gang up on the right side lizard!"_

_The words were barely out of Jale's mouth before he and Fret leapt into action. Jale went to what was quickly becoming his signature move. He sped in from the right flank and unleashed a flurry of jabs before finishing off the attack with a spinning backfist to the face of the lizard. Fret came down hard with his cudgel, landing his jump with a left vertical slash to the top of the lizard's head that avoided Jale. Once Jale cleared out from in front of the lizard, Fret spun the cudgel around over his head and brought it down in a sweeping motion from the right and caught the lizard squarely in the face, dropping it into the throes of death. Logan jumped out at the second lizard, swinging wildly with his spear. Like so many inexperienced fighters, he always swung as hard as he could when he attacked. That made him quite dangerous if he made solid contact, but "if" was the operative word. Experienced fighters know that power comes not just from speed, but from the combination of speed and accuracy. But there was little time at present to train an aging innkeeper on the fundamentals of combat. Logan's attack barely grazed the massive lizard, which angrily countered with a bite from its razor sharp beak that tore through the left arm of his tunic and slashed across his bicep. Logan yelped as he retreated, grasping his arm and grimacing at the scarlet line running across it where the lizard bit. _

"_Marica! What are you doing back there?" yelled Fret. "Help us out!"_

_Marica blinked and shook her head. She was once again shaken out of her thoughts, and realized that while the battle was going on she'd been standing there idly watching the others and hadn't even taken a shot. She re-focused just in time to the same lizard scurry forward and tail whip Fret and Jale, knocking them both down. Jale got back up after a few seconds groaning as he held his ribs, but Fret wasn't getting back up. She could see he was still breathing, but he was dazed and she wasn't sure how badly he was hurt. The shelled baboon moved forward to take the place of the one fallen spiked lizard. _

"_Erin! Qu-quick, h- heal-" Marica sputtered, but before she could even get the words out she could see Logan beginning to glow and the cut on his arm fading away as if it had never been there. _

"_Damn it!" exclaimed Marica, turning back to see the shelled baboon advancing on Fret as Jale struggled to launch himself forward to counter-attack the spiked lizard. She hastily notched an arrow and fired wildly, badly missing the baboon but at least getting its attention as it stopped in its tracks and eyed her. Jale crossed over and got his attack in on the lizard, but his attack did little damage as the pain in his ribs drastically decreased the punching power he was able to generate. Willing himself to move, Jale flipped back out of the way of the lizard's counter, while Logan seized the opening and jabbed the lizard between the shoulder and neck with his spear. The lizard roared in pain, but was nowhere near finished. The baboon took advantage of the distraction and swiped at Fret, who had climbed to his knees, with its clawed hand. The attack ripped open the front of his shirt, and the beast's claws opened three long gashes on his chest. Fret started to cry out in pain, only to have it interrupted as he started coughing up blood from the spiked lizard's previous attack. Jale looked over wearily at Fret, but the momentary loss of concentration was costly. The lizard charged forward and rammed Jale before he could dodge, causing him to slam backwards into the ground and hit his head. A ringing in his ears was the last sound he heard as the world around him faded to black. _

_By now Marica had forgotten all of the years of training she'd gotten back in Citro Village from their mentor Dirk, and the battle experience she'd honed. She was in full-on panic mode as she watched Jale fall in battle and Fret hovering near death. Forgetting all about her healing ability, she instead notched and launched a volley of arrows that flew harmlessly between the two monsters. Marica cursed herself for firing before properly aiming, a newbie mistake. To Logan's credit, he kept his wits about him. As the baboon reached back to take a finishing swing at Fret, Logan stepped forward and ran his spear through the baboon's exposed rib cage, the tip sliding through the bones and rupturing a lung. With a right to left ripping motion he tore the spearhead back out of the baboon's body and pushed the base of the pole forward with his right arm while pulling back with his left. The iron spear pole caught the reeling baboon flush on the side of the head, rupturing its ear drum in the process. With the baboon unable to defend itself, Logan flipped the spear around one more time and pierced it through the throat. Its life ended seconds later. _

_Fret had struggled to his feet and was collecting his bearings, but Marica quickly realized that he would not be able to defend himself in time from the spiked lizard that was scurrying towards him. And even if she managed to think of it, Erin wouldn't have time to heal him before the lizard struck. As the lizard turned to tail whip Fret again, instincts took over and Marica jumped in front of Fret to protect him. She took the full force of the lizard's attack, shielding Fret as the lizard's tail hit her hard across her arms, which she'd raised in front of her at the last second. The force of impact shattered both her forearms and knocked her back from the front line. Logan reached out and caught the reeling girl, cushioning her fall and helping her down to the ground._

"_Erin, heal her!" implored Logan._

"_N-no!" gasped Marica. "He-heal Fr-fr-fret first, so he – he c-can fi-fight" she grunted out through the searing pain. _

"_But!-" started Logan before Marica cut him off._

"_N-no t-time! Do it!" she hissed. Erin nodded, and sent forth a healing ray at Fret. _

_Fret felt the warmth of healing radiate over his body, and could feel some strength returning. He knew he was still in bad shape, but it was enough to get him back in the game. He glanced back at Marica sitting on her legs in agony, with her broken arms uselessly lying across her thighs. He'd seen her injured in battle before, but never like this. Suddenly he began to get very angry. Not just because she was injured, but that she was hurt because of him. His ego couldn't take that, and he was going to take out his fury on that stupid lizard._

_Logan initiated the next round, lunging at the lizard and dealing a moderate amount of damage with a stabbing attack. He had barely taken a step back when Fret flew in with a vicious arcing swing of his cudgel that connected solidly with the lizard's head, then just as quickly jumping backwards to his starting position. The lizard roared in pain, stumbling forward towards Fret in a haphazard last ditch charge. Fret easily dodged the wobbly lizard's attack, then spinning the cudgel behind his back from his left side to his right, he leveraged the momentum of the spinning staff to deliver a powerful counterattack to the back of the lizard's skull, crushing its skull and killing it instantly. Behind him, Marica was beginning to glow softly as Erin's healing mended her broken bones. _

_Fret stood over the final slayed monster, panting heavily and making absolutely sure that the beast didn't get back up. Over his right shoulder he heard Jale's labored breathing pick up and him starting to groan as rolled over on his side and tried to push himself up into a sitting position. _

"_Hang on, Jale, I've got a little bit left" said Marica from behind them." Let me heal you before you start moving around."_

"_Ugh. Gladly…" muttered Jale in reply. A few seconds later he felt the healing warmth bathing his body. When he sat up a minute later he felt as good as new._

_Everyone sat down to catch their breath, and each of them couldn't help but dwell on what had just happened. After a few minutes of silence, Marica spoke up._

"_Erin…" she began. "I appreciate you healing my injuries and that you listened to me and healed Fret before me. We might not have won the battle otherwise."_

"_You're welc-"_

_Interrupting her, Marica's voice rose in volume and tenacity as she finished. "But I swear, if you ever pull that crap again I will put an arrow through your heart myself!" _

"_Wh-what?" stammered Erin, suddenly very afraid._

"_MARICA!" shouted Fret angrily, while Jale and Logan just stared at her in wide-eyed shock._

_Standing up and dusting herself off, Marica started walking away before stopping and turning around. Putting her hands on her hips, she leaned forward and icily said "Fret, if you don't like it then you can have HER back you up instead of me. But I'll be damned if I'll watch you guys almost die, or have to throw myself in front of you to keep you alive because she's wasting her healing on her dad's sc-scratches!" With that, she spun around and stormed off further down the corridor than they'd been yet._

_Jale looked over at Fret. "You've got to go get her" he said simply but sternly._

"_What? Why me?"_

_Jale cocked his head and gave Fret one of those "are you kidding me?" expressions without actually saying a word. "Dude, like it or not you've become the leader of this little outfit. So start acting like one. Besides, it's obvious that something more than this last battle is going on with her, and you've always been the one she'll open up to. We'll hang back here while you and her talk. Don't take forever though, this isn't the safest place even sitting in one spot." _

"_Grrrrr … fine, I'm going." Fret stood up and started to walk in the direction that Marica left in._

"_You'd better walk a little faster," said Jale dryly. "In case you hadn't noticed, this mine is overrun with monsters, so go get Marica before she runs into another group of them. Yell if you need us and we'll come running, otherwise we'll expect you guys back within an hour." Sighing, Fret nodded at the group and jogged off, his figure turning to a silhouette, then to shadow, then to nothing as he disappeared further into the mine._


	4. Meltdown Averted

_Fret moved quickly through the Grayridge mine, balancing speed with stealth. He didn't want to make a lot of noise and draw attention to himself or not be able to see a wandering monster before it was too late, but he also didn't want to take his time in finding Marica. Some sections of the mine were better lit than others, and it made him leery that he was going through one of the more dimly lit areas. He was glad that he didn't have to run very far, he had only gone maybe 100 yards when saw her and stopped. Marica was sitting up against a wall, with her knees pulled up to her chest and hunched over with her arms crossed tightly across her chest. Fret was about 30 feet away from her, but even from that distance he could see that she was crying. His mind raced as he tried to figure out what to do or say. This was not the Marica he'd known all his life. He'd seen her cry a few times in physical pain, but he knew this wasn't physical. What he didn't know was where to even start with emotional pain. Instinct told him to be himself, to joke around and get her laughing and cheer her up. He was good at that, and she usually responded well to his humor. He put on his most charming smile and started to approach her._

_Marica jerked her head up when she heard a scuffling noise close by, instantly fearing that one or more wandering monsters were approaching. Even in the dim lighting in this portion of the mine she recognized Fret, but at the sight of him her shoulders slumped and she shuddered as another sob escaped. She quickly broke eye contact and resumed staring at the ground in front of her feet. While she was relieved it wasn't a monster, Marica wasn't at all happy to see him right now. And she was even less happy for him to see her in such a state. That's why she had run off, because she knew she couldn't hold it together any longer and she didn't want to have an emotional meltdown in front of them – in front of him. She didn't even know why it even mattered to her whether or not he specifically saw her like this, these types of thoughts were new to her and she was confused by them. And she was also angry at herself for having them at a time like this, when their lives were at risk and her distraction almost led to them getting killed not even 15 minutes ago._

_The smile Fret wore was wiped clean in the brief moment Marica had looked him in the eyes. He saw an expression that stopped him in his tracks. He couldn't have described what he saw even if he had to, but it was an expression that was a vortex swirling with negative emotions – fear, hurt, pleading, loathing. Her eyes had a melancholy quality that he'd never seen in them before. Instinctively he knew that he had something to do with it, and that going with the humor approach was liable to get him killed about now. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward and closed the gap between Marica and himself. He slid down the wall and sat down next to her, his left side brushing against her right. Then, he just sat there and said nothing at all, waiting patiently for Marica to break the silence._

_Minutes passed in silence. The tension in Marica's mind had become almost palpable as the weight of the silence pressed down on her. She had anticipated him making a sarcastic comment or joke to try to get out of dealing with the real problem, and was gearing up to explode at him for being such an insensitive jerk, but he'd been sitting next to her for at least 10 minutes and hadn't uttered a single word. The anticipation was driving her nuts! She finally couldn't take it anymore and broke the silence._

"_Well? Aren't you going to tell me how stupid I'm being and how dangerous it was to go running off alone?"_

_Inexperienced as he was, Fret still knew that he needed to tread very lightly with that loaded question and any similar follow ups. Sighing, he reached over and grasped her right hand into his left and pulled it over to rest on his thigh. He laid his right hand down on top of her hand, gently stroking the top of it and tracing outlines with his fingertips as he stared down at her hand and cleared his throat. He wasn't sure why he even took her hand like that, other than he was nervous and needed something to do with his hands. It wasn't something he'd ever done before._

"_Ummm… yes and no I guess. I mean, yes about it being dangerous to go running off. I was… uhh… we were scared when you took off that, ya know… something bad would happen to you. About being stupid? Nah, no worries about that," Fret whispered softly."But you know me. As Elder Rajim always says, 'Fret ain't the sharpest blade in the rack'." He spoke the last part in mock imitation of the voice of elder Rajim, Marica's dad. _

_There it was, Fret making a joke to lighten the mood. Except that he had managed to defuse the anger that she was ready to unleash. She frowned at the realization, then put on a neutral expression and looked up at him, indicating that she expected him to continue. He took the hint._

"_So, I was kinda hopin' you'd fill me in on what's going on. I mean, I've figured out that it's my fault that you're like this, at least mostly. But I'm sorry for being dumb and not knowing what I did. All I can do is promise that if you tell me I'll try to fix it and try not to do it again."_

_Marica was flabbergasted. Her fury was already beginning to catch its second wind after he said he didn't know what he did wrong, when there were about half a dozen different things just this evening alone. And then just like that the flame was extinguished by the simple but sincere apology and promise he made to atone for it. She blinked back the tears that were beginning to well again in her eyes, trying her hardest not to cry right now. It was a battle she lost shortly after she started to recount for him what all had happened that resulted in her being like this. She left out the part about feeling inadequate as a girl in comparison to Erin. That just wasn't something she wanted to discuss with him or anyone else for that matter. But she did point out that she felt unappreciated by how Jale and he were treating Erin and how much it hurt her that they didn't back her up about Erin not using her healing appropriately._

_Other than occasionally asking for clarification, Fret didn't interrupt to try to defend himself or anything. He just sat there quietly and listened for about 20 minutes while Marica talked, ranted, cried, and talked some more. At one point while she was in a crying fit he shocked her by turning and sliding his legs under hers and his left arm behind her back, using the leverage to lift the lithe girl up into his lap, pulling her head down to lay on his chest. She started to protest, but she found it strangely comforting and relaxed as he stroked her hair and whispered to her that it was alright, that he was there for her and was going to fix things. She closed her eyes and let him gently rock her as she continued talking._

_Fret didn't pretend to understand everything she was saying, he knew that he hadn't noticed the things that were bothering her. But he was smart enough to just listen, and to not disagree or argue with her. Now was not the time for that. Other than apologizing for making her feel bad, the only suggestion he gave was that she might cut Logan and Erin a little more slack. When she glared at him in response, Fret explained where he was coming from. Logan and Erin weren't trained and battle tested like they were, so a lot of their mistakes were just from inexperience. Marica grudgingly accepted that he had a point, but asked if he'd at least say something to them. She had a feeling their toughest battle was still to come, and she was worried about being dangerously low on healing capabilities. Fret agreed to talk to them._

* * *

"_Marica," whispered Fret into the ear of the girl lying in his lap. _

"_Huh?" mumbled Marica groggily._

"_Hey, we need to get back to the others. I think it's been over an hour and they're probably getting worried and restless."_

"_Okay, let's head back. I'm okay now. I doubt it's been anywhere near that long though. You came and found me about 5 minutes after I ran off, and there's no way we've been sitting here talking for an hour."_

"_Uhhh, Marica… you've been asleep for a good 20 minutes."_

"_What? You let me fall asleep on you and didn't say anything or wake me up?"_

"_I didn't know you'd actually fallen asleep for several minutes, I thought you'd just gotten quiet again," explained Fret. "But I started talking and you weren't replying" he laughed. "After that you seemed so peaceful that I didn't want to disturb you. So I let you stay that way as long as I thought I could, ya know before we needed to get back and resume the mission and all."_

_Marica smiled at Fret. For someone so clueless much of the time, he had really come through for her in the last hour. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it._

_The two friends detangled, stood up and stretched, and began to walk back the way they came from. _

"_Hey, Fret?" asked Marica._

"_Yep?"_

"_uhhh… Let's keep the details about what just happened to just between us, okay? I mean, uhh, there's no need for Jale or Liu to know all the gory details about me having a meltdown and crying all over you, right?" Marica looked at Fret with a pleading expression that said she really didn't want him to talk about it with the guys. _

"_No worries, Marica, nothing needs to be said about it. All that matters is that we got it sorted out."_

"_Thanks." Marica smiled genuinely at her friend, before beginning to giggle._

"_What'd I miss?" asked a puzzled Fret._

"_Oh, it's nothing," she answered. _

_He raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Nothing, eh?" _

_Marica laughed. "Okay, just thinking how differently you acted back there than I was expecting, and that you seem to have more brain cells than I gave you credit for." She stuck out her tongue playfully after saying the last._

"_Ouch!" chuckled Fret. "Guess I shoulda stuck with 'it's nothing' for an answer." _

_Snapping his fingers, he remarked suddenly "oh yeah, I almost forgot! While you were sleeping I was looking around the area we were sitting in and I'm pretty sure I saw a ladder down to the bottom level of this place over in the corner of the room. I forgot to check it out after we got up, but I think we're pretty close to the end!" _

* * *

_The pair made it back to the rest of their group without incident. As their shadows materialized into view, Fret saw Jale visibly relax. No doubt he'd been ready to pounce if they had been monsters approaching._

"_You guys ready to go?" asked Fret. "I think we found the exit down not too far up the way. Fortunately there aren't any monsters between here and there."_

_The group gathered up their equipment and made their way down the hall. Jale broke formation long enough to sidle over between Fret and Marica. With genuine concern he asked "you guys were gone a long time, I was just about to pack us up and come looking for you. Is everything okay now?"_

_Fret spoke up before Marica could. Grinning at his best friend, he said "Yeah, Jale, ya know, the usual stuff. I made a few bad jokes, she punched me, and we're all good again." _

_Jale snickered. He had no problem visualizing that scenario, he'd seen it played out many times over the years. As Jale slid back over to his position in the formation, Fret looked back at Marica. Making eye contact, she smiled back at him and silently mouthed the words "thank you" to him. He just grinned and gave her a wink._

"_What are friends for?" he thought to himself before pushing aside the distraction and concentrating on the mission. _

"_Maybe there's more to him than I've given him credit for," she thought to herself. "For now though I need to pay attention to what we're doing, so we don't have a repeat of earlier." She firmly gripped her bow and stalked forward with renewed determination._

_Though she remained silent, the brief exchange wasn't lost on Erin. She knew there had to be a lot more to it than what was let on. Marica was acting like an entirely different person now. Definitely for the better, she seemed more confident and focused, and appeared to be in a much better mood."I feel a little better about the prospects of getting out of the mine without getting hit by friendly fire," Erin thought to herself grimly._


	5. A Leader is Born

_The group of adventurers made its way down the ladder to the lower level, and almost immediately had another skirmish with a pair of gray turtles. Between the four of them they took down the two turtles in rapid fashion. Fret and Jale stunned them with blunt force trauma before Logan ran one through with his spear, while Marica's volley of arrows ripped through the exposed throat flesh of the other. After getting through that battle with no damage taken, they approached the next room before Fret stopped them so he could scout ahead._

"_There's a big nasty worm thing ahead, way bigger than anything we've come across so far," he said after coming back to the group._

"_H-how tough do you think it is?" asked Logan. "Do you think we'll be able to take it?"_

"_We'll never know until we try," answered Fret matter-of-factly. Jale rolled his eyes at his friend's mantra, but he knew not to expect any other kind of answer than that._

"_If it's anything like the smaller worms we've seen it'll spew poisonous gas," offered Jale, "so we'll need to be careful about dealing with that."_

"_We've got a couple antitoxins left, but it'll be best if we can save them for after the battle is over." Marica explained, "If we have to use them on someone during the battle and then they get poisoned again, we're screwed."_

_Fret pondered the situation. "At the same time, if someone gets poisoned, they're going to be in danger of dying during the battle." _

"_I'm not positive because I'm still new at this 'mark of the stars' thing, but I think I've only got one or two healings left," said Marica. "Obviously I don't mind using it up, but there's always a chance this isn't the last battle we'll have tonight…" she trailed off._

"_Okay, so this is how it's going to go," Fret began, taking the initiative to layout the strategy. "We're goin' in fast and will take the creepy crawly by surprise. Jale and I will go in first and break off, Jale goes to the right and I'll go left. As soon as we're clear of the entry way, Marica will come through the door and start the attack with a double-arrow volley. After you let the arrows fly I want you to immediately step to the left so Dad and then Erin can come through. Stay back out of that thing's attack range, but don't get so far to the left that I'm in the way of a clear shot when you follow up. I'll try to stay as far left as I can, and Jale will stay to the far right, but it isn't a big room so yell at us if we're getting in your way."_

"_Dad, after Marica clears the way you're going to come in and immediately attack down the middle. Land a quick blow and get back before the worm can counter. Focus on accuracy with your attacks so you deal more consistent damage. I have a feeling this thing is going to be tough to take down, and we'll be better off whittling it down steadily rather than landing one heavy blow then doing nothing for several turns."_

"_Jale, pick your spots and try to stay away from the worm's poison bite. Don't take any chances, if you can't get a clean look then back off. Dad and I have better reach with our weapons and should fare better in a head on attack."_

"_After the first wave we'll cycle through this attack pattern – Jale will start moving in for a flurry. As soon as he starts forward, Marica will fire. The arrow damage should hopefully be enough of a distraction for Jale to get his shots in unscathed. When Jale goes forward, Dad will step up into Jale's spot on the front line. Remember Jale, nothing fancy – stick and move – you won't do as much damage without your flying backfist, but you'll be less likely to get countered and poisoned. As soon as Jale clears, Dad and I are going to leap forward at the same time. Dad, I want you to focus on piercing damage. I don't know where that thing's vital organs are, but you can also try obvious targets like the mouth and throat area, or the eyes if Marica hasn't already taken them out. Again, concentrate on accuracy. Don't move in slow motion or anything, but a well placed strike at 3/4 speed beats a miss or a glancing blow at full speed. I'm going to keep it simple as well, basic strikes that I can get off quickly while moving in, without exposing myself too long to a counter."_

"_Erin, this is extremely important. I know that the speed of battle takes a lot of getting used to and that at first it seems like a million things are happening at once. But you know the order we're going in. We need you to watch out for all of us and focus your healing on whoever is most badly hurt. If you make a mistake don't panic, just try to get to the next person as fast as you can. If more than one of us is in dire shape, get Marica's attention so she can supplement your healing with her own. That's going to be your decision on if and when that needs to happen, so use your best judgment. She doesn't have much left, and there is the added risk that if she's healing she can't attack and provide cover fire for Jale, and there won't be time to tell him."_

"_Everyone down with the plan and their roles?" asked Fret. _

"_Oh, wow…" remarked Marica. Looking at Jale she grinned mischievously, saying "it's like, who is this guy?" Jale laughed in response. Logan and Erin didn't get the inside joke, but back home if there was an unofficial pecking order for leadership among the friends, after Dirk it would have went Marica, Jale, Fret, and then finally Liu. Seeing Fret being so assertive was a new experience for Marica and Jale. Fret playfully scowled back at them in reply before cracking a smile._

"_Sounds solid to me," pondered Logan. "Gives us the best chance to pull this off I think." _

"_I-I think I've got it," replied Erin softly. "Be careful to heal who needs it most, and if absolutely necessary ask Marica for help. Do I need to try to prioritize someone who's poisoned over someone who isn't?"_

_Marica shook her head. "Not necessarily, but be mindful of who is poisoned though because their health will drop faster, they'll weaken even if they're not being hit."_

_Erin nodded. "That makes sense. One other question, what do you want me to do with this revival statue we found awhile back, if anything?"_

"_Revival statues only work if someone has been killed, they're useless if someone is just injured. At least that's my understanding of them," explained Logan._

"_Well, Dad, you've got that much on us, we've never seen one before," replied Fret. "This thing looks pretty old, think it even still works? I mean, coming back from the dead ain't something I want to say 'we'll never know unless we try' to." He laughed. _

_Logan shrugged. "It doesn't look damaged to me, so I don't know why it wouldn't work. Ideally we won't have to find out."_

_Fret nodded. "Good point." Looking at Marica and Erin, he continued."Anyway, if the fight goes bad and you guys have to choose between me and someone else, heal the other person and bring me back later with the revival statue. I'll -" _

"_Stop that!" interrupted Jale, while Marica simultaneously growled "shut. up." in a low voice. Erin merely raised an eyebrow at the three of them. She knew that friends communicate at a level that goes beyond the surface meaning of the spoken words, but she didn't have the camaraderie with the trio to understand the implications of what was being said without it being explained to her. _

"_What?"_

"_We are NOT going to start talking about letting people die or losing this battle," hissed Jale angrily. _

"_Right," pointed out Marica. "We're not even going to let that situation come up. So let's get in there and take this stupid monster out."_

"_Fair enough," Fret relented. "Everyone ready then?"_

_Seeing the determined affirmations from the group, Fret nodded in acknowledgement. "Alright then, let's do this. Jale, you and me on the count of three…"_


	6. Feelings, Nothing More than Feelings

"Marica!"

Her recollection of Grayridge mine was interrupted by Erin's voice. Marica had been so lost in thought that it took her a second to collect her bearings. "Huh?"

Erin laughed. "Are you sure you're awake? I had to call your name like three times to get your attention. I finished up and came over and sat down and your eyes were just completely glazed over like you weren't even here."

Marica grinned. "Yeah, I suppose I wasn't. I was thinking back to Grayridge mine when we were looking for evidence to expose Macoute. Amazing how what at the time seemed like a minor detour on the way to Cynas turned out to be the start of something that's changed our lives so much."

"So are you up to the part yet where you threatened to kill me?" teased Erin, causing Marica to wince. Seeing her reaction, Erin grinned and raised her hand in front of her. "Okay, okay, that was a cheap shot I know."

"Not one of my better moments…" smirked Marica.

"Ancient history," said Erin as she waved her hand dismissively, reassuring Marica that it was a long dead issue. "We both learned a lot that night, and think I was completely over it a couple of days later when we spent the day walking around Grayridge together shopping for supplies while the guys helped Gilliam get setup in Macoute's old office. I'd even say we were actual friends by the end of the day."

Marica smiled. "Definitely! I still wish you hadn't had to see me at my worst as a first impression, but at least I learned to give people the benefit of the doubt and not assume the worst."

"And I learned that girls better make it very clear they're not interested in stealing Marica's man or else their lives are at risk," Erin stated matter-of-factly before starting to stifle the giggles that were forming.

"Wait, my - _what_?" Marica exclaimed, her eyes widening. "Oh - wow, now I _am_ going to kill you!"

Erin could no longer hold back the giggles, and burst out laughing. After a second, Marica joined her in full-fledged laughter. As the laughter died down, Erin smiled and said, "but in all seriousness, I can't figure out why you and Fret aren't a couple. It's sooo obvious that you guys are into each other."

Marica shrugged. "It's hard to think about stuff like that when there is so much going on and so much at stake. Fret and I have been friends since we were very little, and since he was raised in our home by my dad and sister, most people back home are used to thinking of him as my brother. I've never really thought of him as a brother, but I don't know, it's awkward. Sisuca has been bugging me for the last couple years though that he's 'marriage material' as she puts it."

"In other words, you aren't denying that you like him," teased Erin. "Anyway, no offense, but your nut case sister might be right on this one. I know we joke around about his brain capacity, but you gotta admit he's pretty amazing. I mean, he has kings and queens of nations uniting under his leadership. Not saying he's the only one leading and making decisions and all, but he's definitely the face of Cherem Company."

Marica nodded. "I still don't know how exactly that happened. Back home about the only one our group that showed less leadership potential than Fret was Liu, and at least we know now that Liu had the excuse of holding out on us, because he didn't want anyone to find out he was a Scribe. Now look at where we are." She shook her head in mock disbelief. "But anyway," she smirked, "there's at least a dozen beautiful girls living here and many more in the towns we go to that look at the 'Hero of Cherem Company' with awe and longing. With all those prospects he's got lots better options than the girl that mother hen's him all the time to keep him in line."

"So you think he cares about all that? That he just wants some awestruck ditz that's going to worship the ground he walks on or cater to his every whim? I don't know Fret like you do, but I think he'd want something more real than that."

Shrugging, Marica replied "Like I said, with everything going on I haven't given it much thought. Anyway, if I had to guess I'd say he's already interested in princess Chrodechild."

"Seriously? What makes you say that?"

"I don't know, I guess because he takes her on most missions and they seem to get along really well, not to mention she's a beautiful princess that is heir to the throne of Astrasia in addition to being incredibly smart. And she's dual-wielding blademaster like him. She even gave him her special black blade that only the Blades of Night's Veil uses. You've seen how in sync their movements are in battle, I bet if they tried they could do one of those unite attacks like her and Fredegund do. And you remember when that woman at the trading post in Pharamond was telling Chrodechild that she should be looking for a husband and that she thought Fret would be a great match for her? Neither one of them exactly objected to the notion."

"_Hmmm… she's given this more thought than she's letting on," _thought Erin."Okay, so surely you can see how a random townie in Pharamond is going to think it's a great idea for the princess to marry the leader of Cherem Company given that we liberated their land from the Order? Even if he is a hot eligible guy, that hag's perspective was strictly political. She doesn't know anything about them as people. And what were Chrodechild or Fret really going to do there besides smile and be polite to her?"

"'hot', eh?" grinned Marica. "Sounds like someone named Erin is not as disinterested herself as she makes it sound."

Erin laughed. "Not being interested doesn't mean I'm not a girl who can't recognize what she sees."

Marica frowned briefly. "I-I haven't really noticed, to be honest. He's just Fret. Anyway, let's talk about something else besides him!" she exclaimed.

"Sure…" Erin smiled at her friend's discomfort, but didn't mind changing the subject. "So you said earlier that you were thinking about Grayridge mine. What prompted that, it's been like 10-11 seasons since we busted Macoute?"

"Oh, nothing big really. I just saw you and your dad when I walked in, and that got me thinking about how long it had been since we met, which got me thinking about when we met, and so on. I was thinking about how outside of the Citro gang, you're my best friend and how funny that is after we started out, you know - with me wanting to kill you all." Marica said the last part in an intentionally excessive chipper tone of voice, and then started giggling.

Erin joined in on the giggles. "What stood out for me the most was the last fight against Gilliam and his Order soldiers. Up until then it had felt like I was mainly in survival mode, even in the random fights with monsters that we beat easily. Everything was a blur that I couldn't keep up with, and in hindsight I was pretty much guessing as to who to heal when. And yeah, you were right that I was healing my dad whenever he got hit whether or not you guys needed it more, I was scared and he wasn't a warrior like you all. But about halfway through the fight with that huge worm, right before we found Macoute's stash, something clicked. Fret had given us that big speech about the plan, and to be honest at the time I was thinking to myself "whatever, that's what I've been doing anyway" when he gave me the lecture on healing. But during the fight, all of a sudden it was like everyone was moving in slow motion, and I could clearly see each individual attack and counterattack and feel who was in the worst shape."

Marica smiled broadly, remembering her own battle epiphany when she finally "got it" and the speed of battle slowed down for her. Or to be more accurate, she'd gained a level of experience where her senses were able to process the overload of sensory information around her much faster, and she was able to anticipate a lot of things before they happened. So it seemed in her mind that things slowed down, but in reality it was her knowledge and skills that had increased.

Erin continued, "So anyway, the battle itself with the big worm was rather anti-climatic after Fret's big build up, you guys all just ripped through that thing in nothing flat, and then we found Macoute's embezzled hoard in the very next room. But after finding the second Chronicle in there we took the lift back up to the surface and found Macoute and his goons waiting for us. I thought dad would be able to talk Gilliam out of fighting, but of course that didn't happen."

Marica interrupted, "so what was so unusual about that fight that it stood out so much?"

"Well, I think part of it was because it was my first one where the enemies were human, and part because it was against Gilliam, who I'd known my whole life. He and my dad were friends for a long time, since before I was born."

"That makes sense…"

"Yeah, but also like I was saying before about things going in slow motion, this was the first battle where start to finish felt like that. I was so locked in, I felt like I was in total control even though obviously I was only supporting you guys and not actually fighting. I was kind of sad that we had to fight, but afterwards I was so proud of what we'd accomplished." Erin smiled at the memory.

* * *

_Gilliam shook his head in disbelief. He had come into the Grayridge mine in pursuit of some meddlesome kids with Order of the One True Way soldiers from Fort Arc. The fight against the kids and the old innkeeper that he thought would be a massacre had turned out to be just that – but in the opposite direction. The two boys up front had made short work of the Order troops, and he himself was in bad shape. One attacked with iron fists and the other wielded a bone club that he wasn't carrying when Gilliam met him outside of the Order chapter hall the previous day. The latter kid was exceptionally polished for someone so young, he attacked with such precision and seemingly took a maximum amount of damage out on his troops with every strike. The girl behind him was bombarding Gilliam's group with some kind of magical water that rained down on them like a volley of spears, he'd never seen anything like it. And whenever his guys did manage to get a successful attack in on them, Logan's girl Erin waved her hands and muttered something and the person looked as good as new._

_Feeling the warmth of healing radiate over his body, Fret took a deep breath and glared at Gilliam and Macoute. Healing or not, Fret's muscles ached and he was tired of fighting. They'd been through dozens of battles in the last several hours. He thought they were ready to call it a day after wiping the floor with that overgrown worm, but now that great big ol' windbag had his guys trying to kill them even after they'd told Gilliam and the troops that they had proof of Macoute's corruption. Fret menacingly twirled his new bone club around in his hands, a gift courtesy of the six-eyed worm they'd just killed, daring Gilliam to bring the attack to him. Fret knew Gilliam was in a no win situation, he could either charge Fret and get cut down, or stand back and get cut down by Marica from long range. Logan tried one more time to get Gilliam to listen to reason, but when Macoute ordered Gilliam again to attack that was the end of that. _

_Gilliam rushed Jale instead, swinging his sword in a practiced figure 8 pattern before bringing it to bear in a two-handed overhand chop. Jale was quick enough to avoid the brunt of the blow, but Gilliam caught the back of Jale's leg and slashed open his left calf. Jale grunted in pain as he dropped to one knee. Fret saw the smug look on Gilliam's face, and that only served to piss him off even further. He activated his 'masterpiece' mark of the stars one more time, and leapt towards Gilliam just as a pair of arrows from Marica's bow ripped through Gilliam's leather armor and into the shoulder of his sword arm. With a quick sweep, Fret knocked the sword from Gilliam's weakened arm, then he spun around and leveraged the centrifugal force to deliver a devastating strike to his left side. There was a sickening crunch as Gilliam's rib cage gave way to the blow, and Gilliam went down in a heap. Not caring, Fret stepped right over the fallen man and stalked forward towards Macoute, who turned and ran screaming out of the mine, content to leave his guys to die in order to save his own ass. _

_While Fret contemplated chasing Macoute down, the rest of the group approached Gilliam. The fear and pain in his eyes was palpable, and Erin suddenly felt very sorry for him. Gilliam was like many in the village that had been deceived by the Order, and he didn't deserve to be left to die while the person responsible for it fled. She wondered how the others would react if she asked to heal him, but before she could get up the courage to say the words, Marica was already doing it. Erin smiled at her with newfound respect. After talking to Gilliam and showing him the evidence, it was a simple process to bust Macoute the next morning. It was on the way back to town from the mine that Erin came up with the plan to leave Macoute installed as a figurehead to keep up appearances for Order headquarters, but to have the former pre-Order Grayridge leadership resume running the village's day-to-day operations. Unfortunately it only lasted a few weeks before Fort Arc deployed a new battalion of troops to Grayridge and they figured out something was wrong and sent Macoute back to Cynas for re-indoctrination in the 'Principles of the Order'._

* * *

"You know, Marica, the other thing about that battle was that it was when my opinion of you changed," Erin said.

"Oh?"

"I don't know if you remember, but you healed Gilliam after Macoute fled. I was trying to work up the nerve to ask you guys if it was okay for me to heal him, unsure if you'd say yes because you only knew him as an enemy, but then before I could even ask you knelt down and told him it was going to be okay and healed him."

"Well, we could tell he wasn't a bad guy. I wasn't going to let him die just because he'd been misled by that sleazy Order guy."

Erin smiled. "I know that about you now, but that's when I learned it. Honestly I didn't know what you guys were going to do with him, or what I would've said if you had opted to kill him."

Marica contemplated for a moment, then replied "I can see where you wouldn't have known at that point how we'd react, you didn't really know us and we'd already left behind dozens of monster corpses throughout the mine."

"Exactly - but anyway, all of those things were why that particular battle was the one that really stood out, and is the one I look back on the most fondly. That is, if you can ever truly look at battle with any sort of fondness."

"I know what you mean though," said Marica. "And hey, after that you became very helpful in providing healing support on our missions. Even though you don't go out on every mission with us anymore like you did in the first few seasons, you've still been a huge help."

Erin laughed. "Stop that now, you're embarrassing me!" Marica began to laugh with her, before adding "I think Fret would take you with us more often except that certain favorite customers of yours have threatened mutiny if you're taken away from the tavern here on more than an occasional basis."

Erin blushed, thankful that she was thought so highly of, but not knowing what to say. "I-I guess I don't need to get self-conscious then when one of the others on the support team goes instead of me?"

Grinning, Marica answered, "No way! Believe me, you not going on so many missions has nothing to do with you. It's a combination of your value here and Fret mixing up the teams all the time. Even though he definitely has favorites, he wants to be comfortable going to battle with pretty much anyone if he has to, and wants to have a good feel for everyone's strengths and weaknesses. Also, he does that so no one gets stuck here the whole time and starts resenting joining up with us."

Erin nodded as she considered what Marica said. "That makes sense, I just wish someone would have explained that sooner. I was kinda wondering what I did wrong."

Marica stared at Erin for a moment. "_I never figured she'd ever be insecure about anything." _"Hey, you know he is usually oblivious to social customs and proper manners. It probably never crossed his mind to say anything."

"Yeah, I guess," sighed Erin.

"This has really been bothering you, huh?"

"Wh-what? No, it's nothing like that. Let's just forget it…"

Marica shrugged. "If you want to, but in the future if you've got concerns about something just talk to me, assuming I'm here and all. I've got no problem telling you anything I know. I don't know everything that goes on inside that guy's head, but what I don't know I can usually figure out!"

"And that's why you two should be together," snickered Erin.

"Erin!" exclaimed Marica, to which Erin laughed.

"Okay Erin, since you're so intent on getting me hooked up with Fret, who's _your_ crush around here?" asked Marica as she poked Erin in the arm. "So are you Roberto fangirl, or do you go for the more exotic types like Asad or Nakil? Oooh, or how about the strong silent type like Buchse? Or maybe you're into withered old men, we sure have enough of those-"

"Ewww! Yuck!" shuddered Erin.

"I guess that's a 'no' on the last category," mocked Marica.

Erin's face turned red as she stammered, "How do you even know I'm interested in anyone? M-maybe I'm not?"

"That reaction just told me that you are," smirked Marica. "I guess I'll just have to guess until your face gives away when I get it right!"

Erin shook her head at her friend's persistence, while Marica inwardly gloated at flipping the uncomfortable situation back on her friend. Erin took a deep breath and tried to put on as neutral an expression as possible. Truthfully she didn't really mind telling her, she wanted to see if Marica had any insight anyway. But since Marica wanted to turn it into a game, she'd play along.

"Ummm… Asad," guessed Marica.

"Chrodechild," replied Erin.

"Chrodechild what?" asked a puzzled Marica. "Wait, are you telling me that you have a thing for her?"

"Oh, good grief no!" Erin choked out, laughing. "I'm saying Asad only has eyes for Chrodechild. He's a hottie, but not even worth thinking about."

"Ahhh… gotcha. Okay, let's see… Roberto."

"Chrodechild," dead-panned Erin before breaking into giggles.

"Darn! Why does it keep coming back to her?" asked Marica in mock indignation. "If every cute guy here is after her, we're going to have to push her off the roof or something."

"Yeah, so what was that I was saying earlier about girls competing with Marica for men? Death sentence…"

Marica scoffed. "She can have pretty boy, he's such an arrogant prick."

"No kidding!" agreed Erin. "Anyway, that's another miss. How many guesses do you get before you lose this little game?"

"10?"

"How about 5?" countered Erin.

"Bah, I'd better make them count then." Marica thought about the different missions she'd be on that Erin was a part of, and if her behavior towards any of the guys gave her any clues.

"Luo-Tao… and you'd better not answer Chrodechild!"

"Nah, it's probably better for her long term health if I don't," replied Erin sarcastically. "Interesting guess, but I don't really know anything about him. He's so serious and stoic all the time and doesn't say much. I don't think I could go for the whole hide in the woods away from society lifestyle though."

"Xebec?"

"Are you even trying?" mocked Erin. "I don't mind a guy with a little wild side, but not a freakin' pirate!"

"Ugh… last shot. It's… it's… it's… darn, this is probably another Chrodechild guess… Amaralicht."

"I'll give you partial credit for that one," Erin winked. "I like him a lot, and he'd probably be my first choice if someone else hadn't caught my eye first."

"I give up then," pouted Marica. "I'm just glad it isn't Roberto, I might have had to push both of you off the roof for your own good!"

Erin laughed. "Anya would be all over that in a second if she could. The only way he'd work for me is if I could get Zahra to remove his vocal cords so I didn't have to listen to him constantly brag about himself."

"Hey, did I ever tell you about Roberto acting like me not wanting to make out with him was like the most unbelievable thing he could imagine?"

"No! When did that happen?" gasped Erin.

"Oh, it was back when we first got involved in helping Janam, right after the scouting mission to Ladzaa Fortress where we rescued Cougar. Remind me later and I'll tell you the story. For now, you're not getting out of telling me what guy you're interested in!"

"Alright already!" laughed Erin. "You want me to give you some hints for some more guessing, or just tell you?"

"Hmmm… give me a couple of hints."

"Let's see… a blonde 'strong silent' type, one of the better known members of Cherem Company."

Marica contemplated the hints for about five seconds before blinking her eyes in surprise. "Wait, you're talking about… Jale? He's the one?"

"Why do you have to make it sound like I picked out a guy who has two heads or a contagious disease or something?" asked an irritated Erin.

"No, no, that's not what I meant! I-It's j-just … Jale?" Marica sighed as Erin frowned at her. "Let me try again… I d-don't mean it like Jale is bad, he's not. He's about as loyal as they come, and once you get to know him you realize he has such a big heart. But people tend to think he's aloof or conceited or whatever because it takes him a long time to warm up to new people and come out of his shell. So I was just surprised that you'd seen past that cold exterior. Also, I have a hard time visualizing Jale talking to a girl," grinned Marica.

"Are you saying he doesn't talk to you?" Erin countered.

"Come on, you know by 'talking to a girl' I don't mean a friend who happens to be female. I can't imagine Jale seeing me as a 'girl' anymore than I see him as a 'boy'."

"Okay, but we're done talking about you, remember?" Erin stated somewhat impatiently. "Besides, you're already committed so you don't need to think about other guys in terms of yourself." Erin winked after making the last remark.

"Not bad work, Erin! In less than an hour you've had me go from unaware to interested to committed. Have you been taking matchmaking lessons from Moana while I've been gone?" smirked Marica.

"Just-"

"Nope!" interrupted Marica. "Like you said, we're done talking about me. Anyway, so you and Jale eh?"

Erin paused, not sure what or how to ask her friend about Jale. "Maybe… I really have no idea if there is any interest on his side. He's friendly and all when he's down here eating and I talk to him, or when we've been out on a mission, but he doesn't seem to like to talk about anything personal."

Marica smiled knowingly, placing her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Well, you need to know that Jale has confidence issues. There are very few people he ever lets in, he's always been that way. He had a very weird childhood with his mom Selen, she's also a martial artist and trained him. But she'd be away for long periods of time working as a merc or bodyguard, and then she'd come blowing back into town like a storm, beat the hell out of him, then leave again."

"Yeah, I remember the whole weird thing with 'the storm is coming' seasons ago here where Jale's mom showed up and fought him and immediately left, then came back and did it again a few weeks later, and then stayed when he finally won. I noticed that even though she's here now, they don't hardly ever visit with each other or even eat together."

"Yep," replied Marica. "That's how it was growing up for him, though he never beat her until this last time. I think he was so desperate for a mom that he was the only one of us that wasn't creeped out by Sisuca pretending to be our moms. Thinking back on it, I think he liked feeling like he had someone looking out for him like that, even if it was Sisuca. Honestly though, I've known Jale just as long as I've known Fret, and in some ways I think I understand him better than I do Fret because Jale is so much more… consistent I guess you could say."

"Consistent?"

"Yeah," Marica explained, "you know how Fret can be so impulsive, and he's pretty much an open book when it comes to what he thinks and feels. Jale isn't either of those. He's a tough nut to crack, but once you do you find that he's not that complicated. The main thing is Jale craves encouragement and reassurance even though he'd never admit it."

Erin frowned, feeling sorry for Jale. "D-do you think he's even capable of having a mature relationship?"

"Sure, I guess. He's not unfeeling or unable to open up, you just have to be patient with him as you build up enough trust to get over the walls he's built to protect his heart. To be honest, Jale and I are good friends but it's a very different friendship than me and Fret. Jale and Fret have a similar relationship as Fret and I do in the sense of being to talk about anything and everything no matter how personal. I've never had that with Jale. Even after knowing Jale all these years, if I am going to criticize him about something I have to make sure it's for a good reason because I know he takes that type of thing personally. Usually if I'm at all unsure I'll put Fret up to talking to him," laughed Marica.

"You know, I think I know now how Fret ended up as the group leader."

"Oh yeah? How's that?"

"Even though you said earlier that you never saw him as having leadership skills, think about what you've been saying. For whatever reason, you all trust him and confide in him in ways you don't each other. Is it the same type of thing with Liu and Fret as well?"

Marica considered Erin's point. "Hmmm… yeah, I guess they're like that too. You might actually be on to something. Jale and Liu are about the same as Jale and me, though Liu and me are somewhere in between me and the other two."

Erin and Marica sat in silence for a minute, each with their own thoughts. Erin interrupted the silence, saying, "Marica, can I ask a favor?"

Marica looked at Erin with a mischievous grin. "No problem, I'll scout out Jale's potential interest in you."

"H-huh? H-how did you know that's what I was going to ask?" asked a shocked Erin.

"I was going to do it anyway whether you asked or not because you're my friend, but I figured it out earlier and was wondering how long it was going to take you to ask," winked Marica.

"You're evil!" laughed Erin. "But at the same time, thanks. Hey, I'm gonna have to start getting ready to get the place setup for lunch soon. Since I didn't get to hang out with you guys this last season, at least fill me in on your mission to the Ch'olui Mountains! Did you manage to find that snow fairy or whatever it was about?"

"Oh, yeah! You think Sisuca is a whack job for her whole mommy routine, let me tell you about this piece of work we found in the mountains while tracking down the 'snow fairy'…"


	7. Bad Decisions Present and Past

"Whoa…" said Erin after listening to Marica's story about getting blown away by the snow fairy and then meeting Maybelle in the Ch'olui Mountains. "That's crazy. Do you think that Maybelle will show up here?"

"I don't know, but if you hear of some girl that matches that description coming by here, let us know right away. I have no idea what her intention-"

"ARGHHH!" screamed a female voice from the entry hall next door, interrupting the two girls' discussion. "Where is Lord Fret? I can't believe he agreed to this!" shouted the voice.

"Huh? That sounds like Chrodechild," said Marica.

"She sounds very upset, I wonder what's wrong?" Erin pondered.

The two girls ran out into the hall, where they found Chrodechild ranting at Moana about trying to find Fret, who she still insisted on calling 'Lord' for some reason.

"Chrodechild!" exclaimed Marica. "What's going on?"

"Lord Fret! H-he… he…" panted Chrodechild, who was bordering on hyperventilating. "H-he…"

"Well, hello my visions of beauty! How lovely you look today, oh yes this castle is a paradise! I'm sooo happy that master Fret said I could join Cherem Company!"

"ICAS!" screamed Marica and Erin in horror simultaneously. It so happened that the three women along with Minen and Manaril had gone on a mission not too long ago that had come in to track down Icas for a woman named Morrin that wasn't very happy with him and was trying to find him. All five ladies had been thoroughly disgusted by his blatantly shallow womanizing. Chrodechild even had to talk Minen out of putting a bullet in the back of his head after Icas stood there flirting with all of them simultaneously before declaring he needed to move on to meet other beautiful women.

"That!" shouted Chrodechild. "That's what I was trying to say!"

"No way, there's no way Fret said he can stay here, even _he_ isn't that stupid," Marica suggested hopefully.

"Ahhh, my beauty, but he did! I've been pursued by a most hateful assassin, and master Fret said I could have sanctuary here. And oh my, sanctuary indeed it is with all of you lovely ladies. So many beautiful women in the castle to meet, so little time… I'm off to meet even more angels," Icas squealed with glee as he started walking into the tavern, "until we meet again my loves!"

Erin shuddered. "That guy gives me the creeps."

"Moana, did you say you had seen Lord Fret recently? Where was he headed?" asked Chrodechild.

Moana, shaking her head at the exchange she had just witnessed, answered "don't be too hard on the boy now dears, his heart was in the right place even if his head wasn't. He was by here a little while ago to check on jobs and afterwards said he was going back up to his room for awhile."

"We have to speak to Lord Fret about this at once, surely he will listen to us and ask this Icas to leave?" ventured Chrodechild.

"If not, well… someone might get pushed off the roof today after all," grumbled Marica.

"I- I'm afraid I don't understand," said Chrodechild.

"Long story," replied Marica grimly. Leaving out the part about Chrodechild herself, Marica said "Erin and I were kidding around about what guys here she might like or not like, and I joked that if she hooked up with Roberto I'd have to push them both off the roof for her own good."

"Ahhh, I see…" said Chrodechild. "I take it you've never quite gotten over his callous behavior in El-Qaral?"

"I trust Roberto enough to fight alongside him and respect his skills in battle, but no, he's not exactly my favorite person."

"So what exactly happened between you two anyway?" asked Erin. "You never got around to telling me the story."

"Chrodechild, maybe you could tell the story while we're taking the lift up to Fret's room on the 4th floor? As slow as the lift is we should have plenty of time for it," smirked Marica.

Chrodechild smiled. "Sure, if I remember right, Cherem Company and the Blades of Night's Veil had just returned from Ladzaa Fortress that day with Cougar, and had gathered at the Blades' outpost in El-Qaral while Asad reported the mission results back to the Mage Lord and while the doctor was tending to Cougar…"

* * *

"_But Commander Chrodechild, you cannot be serious!" protested Roberto. "This hayseed jeopardized the whole mission!"_

"_That's enough, Roberto!" scolded Meruvis. _

"_Roberto, do you think I would not have stepped in and helped someone fleeing from Order troops myself if I had been there?" questioned Chrodechild._

_Roberto scoffed. "But this idiot just recklessly engaged the Order after being ordered not to!"_

_Fret had just about had enough. "What's your problem, Robbie? Jealous we got something done while you just stood around?"_

"_It's Ro-bert-o, you hayseed!" Roberto fumed. "And being jealous of you?" he asked incredulously. "You're a joke, you aren't fit to carry my scabbard into battle!"_

_Marica chewed on her bottom lip, fighting the urge to lash out. True, they were backwater hicks in comparison to the Blades, but she was fed up with Roberto's superiority complex. She was smart enough though not to escalate the already tense situation, and just wanted to finish up and get back to Castle Starcache. Fret, however, had no problem escalating things._

"_Roberto!" shouted Chrodechild and Meruvis in unison. Meruvis was particularly taken aback by the crass behavior, having just recently rebuked Roberto for his attitude outside of Ladzaa Fortress. He had been a mentor and practically an older brother to Roberto, especially since the fall of Pharamond and their exile from Astrasia. Roberto had been the youngest to ever be made a full member of the Blades of Night's Veil, but Meruvis feared his skill with a blade was in danger of being eclipsed by his arrogance and that it would prove costly in the future._

"_Oh yeah?" snarled Fret. "Since you're so convinced your dick is bigger, wanna put your blade where your mouth is?"_

_Marica rolled her eyes. "Always a way with words…" she thought, sighing to herself._

_Roberto sneered. "Such class, but what would anyone expect from one such as yourself? You really think you can take me in a duel?"_

"_I'll never know until I try! Say, how about I keep your fancy black blade after I whip you?"_

"_You want a wager? Fine, I'll put my blade up. What are you putting up?" countered Roberto. "Your meager Magedom sword isn't equal value."_

_Fret thought for a second. "Uhhh, well I guess I don't have any coin or weapons that'd be of interest to you. Not that you'd be collecting anyway!" _

_Roberto rubbed his chin as he thought for a minute. "Tell you what, I'll put my blade up against your girl over there," he smirked, glancing over at Marica with a lecherous grin. "She can spend the night with me after I put you in your place."_

"_WHAT?" screeched Marica furiously. "Y-you… you…" she stammered, storming towards Roberto with rage in her eyes._

_Chrodechild intercepted the girl, stepping in front of her before she could get to Roberto. She looked Marica in the eyes with a silent expression that said "let me handle this." Marica angrily nodded before turning her back to the boys._

"_Roberto, you are quite out of line and I suggest you proceed very carefully," scolded Chrodechild._

"_Oh, come on! You heard him, he's so sure he's going to defeat me anyway so what's it matter what his side of the wager is?" Roberto spat. "But fine, if she's so worried about her virtue then how about we make it just a big wet kiss?" _

_Chrodechild was about to reprimand Roberto again when Fret spoke up. "Hey, I don't own Marica, it ain't my place to tell her what she's going to do or not do." Glancing over at his friend and then back at Roberto, he continued, "but I swear I would see you dead before you laid a hand on her!" He gave Roberto a very dark glare to punctuate his point._

_Marica, who had been facing away from them in an attempt to manage her anger, snapped her head back around in surprise at Fret's words. She'd never known him to be quite so – protective – of her. _

"_My, my, aren't we a little possessive? Looking at her maybe I can see why …" Roberto mused. "But if you want my blade you're going to need to put up something I find worth winning."_

"_Fine, Roberto!" hissed Marica. "I'll put up a kiss as Fret's side of the wager."_

"_Marica, no…" said Fret softly, shaking his head at her._

"_It's done, so shut up and get to beating him. You're better than even Dirk, I know you can do it."_

_Fret gulped and nodded. "She's putting a lot of trust in me," he thought. He looked back to Roberto, who wore a look of smug arrogance on his face. "Alright, Robbie, let's do this…." He sneered, unsheathing his Magedom sword and gritting with determination._

_Asad strode into the room, having returned from the imperial palace. His jaw dropped in shock at the first words he heard._

"_I'm going to enjoy wiping the floor with you, hayseed…" mocked Roberto as he drew his black blade in response to Fret._

_Asad looked over to Chrodechild in bewilderment. She motioned for him to come over to where she and Marica were standing._

_Meruvis stepped in between the two teen boys. He was a decade older than the boys, a formidable swordsman who commanded respect for his skill in dual-wielding blades as much as for being Commander Chrodechild's second-in-command. "Both of you, pay attention to my words," he began. "There is a dueling protocol that both of you WILL follow," he said icily. "First, there is NO striking to kill. Regardless of what you think of each other, you are both important to our efforts against the Order and the penalty for killing your opponent will be a charge of treason against the Magedom of Janam, where your own death will swiftly follow. Do I make myself clear?"_

"_Crystal…" groused Roberto, while Fret simply muttered "yes."_

"_Second, you can use your swords and bodies and nothing else. No magic, no healing supplies, no other weapons. Third, you will keep your duel confined to the main part of the room here. The duel ends when one of you submits to the other or forfeits by breaking the rules. Understood?" _

_Roberto and Fret, without taking their cold glares away from each other, replied "understood" in unison. _

"_Lastly, this duel settles your differences once and for all. After this is over there will be no more trading insults or backbiting. In-fighting between leaders divides loyalties and weakens the morale and resolve of our forces. So you two will be respectful to each other whether you like it or not. Understood?"_

_Both boys looked at Meruvis in surprise, but quickly nodded in agreement and regained their focus. _

"_Commander Chrodechild," petitioned Meruvis, "do the terms meet with your approval?"_

"_Very much so, Meruvis, thank you."_

_Meruvis bowed his head low to Chrodechild and walked off to the side of the room where a number of cushioned chairs were. Chrodechild, Marica, Asad, and several other Blades of Night's Veil who were in the outpost joined Meruvis, taking up seating positions to watch the duel about to take place. Marica glanced around nervously, suddenly becoming fully aware that she was in the midst of almost a dozen skilled warriors, and she was the only one on Fret's side. She didn't feel threatened – yet – but was silently worried about what might happen if this little pissing match ended badly. Chrodechild sensed the girl's unease. She leaned over to Marica and whispered, "Do not let this worry you, duels are an honorable way of settling differences among my people. Any outcome other than one of their deaths will be respected." Chrodechild began to pull back from Marica, before having another thought. She leaned even closer and whispering in her ear, added, "Besides, I guarantee most of us think Roberto's opinion of himself could stand to be brought down a few notches, and are secretly hoping he gets his ass handed to him by Fret." As Chrodechild leaned back into her seat, she winked at Marica, who grinned back and tried not to giggle at the thought of the normally stuffy and overly formal blonde making such a lowbrow remark._

"_En garde…" Roberto offered snidely, pointing his blade at Fret._


	8. Showdown

_Roberto and Fret circled each other confidently, beginning a duel that each expected would put the other in his place. Fret twirled his Magedom sword in front of him, not in a hurry to initiate an attack. Everyone who knew him would agree that he had an impulsive "leap before you look" personality. However, those who had fought alongside him knew that battle brought out a different side – a tactician with exceptional observational skills, adept at learning the strengths and weaknesses of an opponent on the fly and exploiting that knowledge to his advantage. He knew it wasn't always the most skilled combatant that emerged victorious, and this duel would be no different. Fret had an idea from a few comments he'd heard that ego aside, Roberto actually was a gifted swordsman. But he'd never actually seen him fight. On the flipside, Roberto had never seen Fret fight either, other than the last seconds of the recent encounter with the Order troops at Ladzaa Fortress. _

"_The upside," Fret mused to himself, "is that his arrogance in his own skill and low opinion of my skill can be taken advantage of." _

_Roberto grew impatient at his opponent's lack of action. He believed in letting his enemies make the first move. Part of that was driven by his sense of honor, and part of it was that Roberto was a deadly counterattacker. The more aggressive the attacker, the more it played in his favor. But since Fret was apparently afraid to do anything make a move on him, he'd just have to toy with his prey. "Nothing wrong with making this as humiliating as possible…" he thought. _

_Beginning by mimicking Fret's simple turn of the blade, Roberto gradually sped up the tempo and complexity of his movements, until his black blade was little more than a motion blur. Fret had to admit to himself that it was damn impressive, but he took solace in knowing that he was witnessing a well-practiced kata, one that Roberto had probably executed thousands of times. Misinterpreting Fret's stern expression for fear, Roberto smugly asked "shall we begin, or did you want to dance longer?"_

_Calculating the pattern of Roberto's moves, Fret responded with a sudden thrust just as Roberto was executing a complex move involving the roll of the sword's hilt from his palm across the backside of his hand. Despite the unexpected attack that interrupted his kata, Roberto's lightning quick reflexes kicked in and he parried Fret's thrust at the last minute, riposting into a spinning right to left downward slash – a move designed to come down on the attacker's hand/forearm area if they didn't withdraw quickly enough. Fret barely pulled back in time, with Roberto's blade crashing down on the pommel of Fret's sword and barely missing his fingers. The metal upon metal collision produced a reverberant clang and threw sparks._

_Marica's heart leapt into her throat at the speed Roberto moved. She had suspected that his bragging wasn't completely baseless, but she was not at all expecting anything like this. For the first time, doubt crept into her mind as to Fret being able to beat him. Something else also finally occurred to her._

"_Ummm, shouldn't they be dueling with dulled practice swords?" she asked out loud to no one in particular._

"_No," replied Meruvis. "It is important for each of them to know at all times that they can seriously hurt the other or be seriously hurt themselves. Practice swords are suitable for training, but aren't appropriate for a duel such as this. They create a false sense of security and lead to carelessness because the combatants don't fear the capacity for damage their opponent wields."_

"_That's right," Chrodechild explained. "Mastery of the blade is not only attacking, it is also respecting the risk of your opponent's attack and defending against it. And fear not, we shall be quick to apply the healing arts to both of them at the conclusion."_

_Marica didn't like the answer, but knew she really couldn't object further. She simply nodded and returned her full attention to the action in the center of the room._

_Fret's own heart had skipped a beat at the astonishing speed of Roberto's spinning counterattack, but he had little time to dwell on it as Roberto pressed the attack, turning his wrist over while taking a step forward and in one fluid motion flicking his blade in the opposite direction of his previous strike. Fret quickly recovered, spinning his sword from a thrust position to intercept Roberto's left to right rising slash in front of his chest. Reinforcing his grip with his offhand, Fret used the added strength to push Roberto's blade back down in the direction it came from. This left Roberto with his sword arm briefly pinned across his chest and unable to continue the current attack. Using the momentum of the push, Fret disengaged his blade and while blocking against another riposte with his left forearm, spun a 3/4 turn clockwise and slashed at Roberto's side. The attack caught nothing but air, however, as Roberto leveraged the same momentum of Fret's parry. Instead of being left off balance and exposed, Roberto went with the push and executed a side step with a full counter-clockwise spin. The resulting position change placed Fret with his back partially to Roberto, who capitalized by raking his blade down across Fret's exposed back. The black blade made contact just below his right shoulder, tearing through his shirt and tracing a crimson line down to the middle of the back. Fret gasped at the unexpected and sudden pain, and instantly regretted jettisoning his leather armor in favor of a cooler outfit after checking into the inn at El-Qaral. Despite that, he quickly switched feet so that he was again facing Roberto. The two teens were now opposite of the position they started in._

"_First blood is mine," Roberto proclaimed smugly. _

_Marica cringed. Fret had been mostly facing her direction when Roberto hit him, but now that he had turned back around she could see the red stain on the back of his white shirt growing as the wound bled. It was also somewhat unnerving that none of the others here had even reacted to it, there was almost no trace of emotion in anyone's expression other than Asad's, who seemed to be disgusted by the whole situation._

_Fret grimaced in disgust. He hadn't underestimated Roberto per se, but he hated admitting to himself that if this duel stayed purely about technical skill he was going to get hurt badly. And for some reason the thought of this bastard molesting Marica made his blood boil. He looked down and flexed his empty left hand and sighed. One of his biggest strengths in battle was being almost equally adept with his off hand as he was with his main hand, an advantage that was lost when he switched from staff style weapons to a sword. With all of the equipment needs of Cherem Company, he hadn't made getting a second sword for himself a priority. "Another regrettable decision," he thought solemnly, "but it ain't gonna do any good to worry about it now."_

_Fret feigned a low thrust, and as Roberto moved to sweep it aside, deftly leapt and flipped over Roberto's left shoulder. Roberto was fast enough to bring his blade up and take a swipe at Fret as he was going by, but it wasn't a particularly powerful strike and Fret's boot absorbed the blow. As Fret landed he was already swinging his sword in a rising arc towards Roberto's chest. Caught off guard, Roberto wasn't able to fully parry the strike, deflecting his opponent's blade upwards to where the tip of it scored against his cheek. Roberto reached up and placed his fingers over the cut before pulling them back to see the blood on them. Truthfully the physical wound wasn't much more than a bad shaving cut, but the psychological effect on both boys had a bigger impact. For Roberto, it made him seethe that this hick had not only gotten through his defenses, but hit him in the face. For Fret, it gave him a tactical idea that he hoped would rattle Roberto and get him off his game._

"_Looks like the score is even again," said Fret flatly._

_Roberto scoffed. "Please… you're injured far worse than I am." _

"_Maybe, but somehow I know you care more about your pretty boy face than I do my back."_

_Roberto growled low before unleashing a vicious combination of slashes, thrusts, and sweeps, determined to use his pure precision and speed to take Fret out. Fret was able to deflect or avoid most of the strikes, but they were simply coming too fast. One got past his defenses and tore deeply into his right thigh. He didn't even have time to scream as he had to raise his sword to block a vertical chopping blow that threatened to remove his right arm at the shoulder. Fret got his sword up in time to catch Roberto's strike, but the wounds in his upper back and thigh were sapping his strength to push the blow back. Roberto added his off hand to the hilt and he used his leverage to continue driving his blade down toward Fret's shoulder, whose own blade was slowly giving ground. Both boys were locked in grim determination, with Roberto's single minded focus pushing down on his blade, staring intently at the target he was determined to reach. So intently that he didn't even see what came next._

_Fret knew that he wasn't going to be able to hold back the blade that was inching closer to his collar bone, but that was okay. He dropped his left hand from the hilt, and the muscles in his right arm protested against the added burden. As Roberto's blade pressed dangerously close to his skin, Fret reached back and delivered a straight left, catching the blonde teen square in the jaw and splitting open his lower lip as it hit against his teeth. Roberto staggered back from the shot, incredulous that he had been "sucker punched."_

"_I shouldn't have been surprised at your lack of honor," he snarled, spitting out blood and running his tongue over his rapidly swelling lip. "Fighting dirty because you can't win legitimately!"_

"_Dirty? What are you talking about? Meruvis said swords and bodies and nothing else, so where was punching not legit?" _

"_It-it j-just isn't!" scowled Roberto. "The point is to prove who the superior swordsman is!"_

"_That's ridiculous!" laughed Fret, "the point is to win!"_

_Fret was aware that he had to carefully balance taking rest moments against the weakening effects of blood loss. Willing his body forward, he feigned an overhand chop and then feigned a left to right downward slash before bringing his sword back and thrusting toward Roberto's right shoulder. Roberto anticipated the initial feign and reacted only by side stepping. But he took the second decoy hook, line, and sinker. By the time he realized this, his sword was in position to intercept the slash and it was too late to parry the thrust that Fret lunged towards him. Gritting his teeth, Roberto braced for the pain while countering with an attack of his own. He would make sure his opponent paid his own price in flesh. Both teens gasped in pain simultaneously – Roberto from the serrated blade of Fret's Magedom sword piercing his shoulder at the socket, and Fret from Roberto's razor sharp black blade slicing open his upper abdomen. Both recoiled from the respective attacks, then settled into a weary game of cat and mouse for the next 15 minutes, where they'd probed each other's defenses for openings and engaged in brief skirmishes before separating and repeating. Neither could gain an advantage, which worked in Roberto's favor since he was less injured and Fret would likely wear down first._

_Marica grew more nervous with each passing minute. Fret's once white cotton shirt was in crimson tatters, and he was definitely the worse for wear of the two. He was still holding his own, but Marica knew it was only a matter of time before some combination of Roberto's skill, Fret's injuries, and his weariness would result in Roberto delivering a decisive blow. Roberto wasn't moving as fast as he was earlier, but it was almost just as bad because he seemed to be taking Fret very seriously now and wasn't making mistakes of overconfidence any longer. _

_Roberto's muscles ached. He had never endured a fight that had lasted this long before, even in training. The wound in his sword arm shoulder screamed at him in protest every time he raised his blade, and he was in a tough situation because the absorbed impact of blocking or parrying an attack hurt much worse than the collision of blades when he was attacking. So he was being very methodical, trying to defend through avoidance as much as possible, and attacking often to discourage Fret from attacking but not too often to accelerate the weakening of his arm any further. Roberto was also increasingly relying on fighting stances that traded off his typical speed in favor of two-handed grips to better support the blade in his wounded arm with his off hand. _

_Fret, for his part, was in worse shape. Even though he was doing his best to maintain a strong, confident, external appearance, inside he was struggling to hold it together. The injuries he had received were all to core muscle areas that played a significant role in sword fighting. The speed disadvantage he already had to Roberto was exacerbated by weaknesses caused by his injuries, the increased fatigue of the other muscles that were trying to compensate, and compounded by the length of time they had been dueling. He guessed it must have been around 30 minutes by now, which was very long by dueling standards. He was also growing frustrated by the realization that he didn't have much fight left in him and his efforts to find and exploit any weaknesses had largely been unsuccessful. He'd grudgingly gained respect for Roberto's skills, but he was still determined not to let Roberto have the satisfaction of beating him and rubbing it in his face. He knew he was getting close to latch ditch effort time, but before that he thought he'd revisit an earlier tactic._

_Fret feigned a thrust before bringing his sword around in a left to right rising slash. Roberto caught Fret's sword with his own, but instead of backing off Fret maintained the bind and grunted to give the impression of trying to overpower Roberto's block._

"_I don't think so," mocked Roberto, who had the positional leverage. Soon the blades slowly but surely reversed direction and began moving back toward Fret. Roberto, remembering Fret punching him in a similar blade lock earlier, was satisfied that he had closed off that attack route because this time he was pushing the blades toward Fret's left shoulder instead of his right. That prevented Fret from freeing his left hand and swinging it at him, since this time the blades were in the way and blocking access._

_What Roberto didn't know is that Fret had him right where he wanted him. It wasn't his intent to punch him again. Instead, when Roberto leaned forward to put additional weight behind his push, Fret let his sword give just a little bit more to draw Roberto in even closer. At that point Fret snapped his head forward and head butted Roberto. His forehead connected solidly with Roberto's nose, shattering it with a loud crunch that was accompanied by blood gushing both from his nostrils and where the skin had been broken open by the force of impact. Roberto recoiled in pain with a sharp yelp as his eyes watered, and he began swinging his sword wildly and blindly in front of him in an attempt to defend himself while trying to clear his eyes and see clearly. Fret didn't pursue, but took the moment to catch his breath and assess what to do next. _

"_You little bitch!" screeched Roberto at Fret as he struggled to regain his composure. He cleared his eyes and glared at Fret in fury as the teens resumed circling each other in the same cautious probing manner as before._

"_How ya feelin', Robbie? Ya don't look so well," grinned Fret._

_Roberto raised an eyebrow at the sudden question breaking the tense silence. "Ha! You're one to talk, I've carved you up like a holiday raparo bird!" He flicked his blade back and forth in quick slashing motions to illustrate his point. Meruvis and the other male Blades of Night's Veil chuckled in amusement at the demonstration._

"_Well, your face looks like you've been trying to kiss a Saw Kingfisher. Guess your idea of a 'big wet kiss' involves blood pouring from your swollen face eh?" Fret smirked at Roberto. Chrodechild glanced at Marica, making eye contact with the younger woman that caused both to have to fight back the urge to laugh despite the seriousness of the situation. That didn't stop Meruvis and the others from laughing at this as well._

"_And yet despite your pathetic declarations earlier, it looks like I'll be collecting on that."_

"_Well, you'll never know until you try will you?" _

_Thinking to himself, Fret hoped that the little exchange had accomplished its goal of getting Roberto to lose concentration and drop his guard for just a moment..._

_Fret flipped his Magedom sword back and forth between hands before settling with it in his left hand. He knew it would increase the pain from the abdominal injury to fight left-handed, but it would shift his primary leg for generating power to his uninjured right leg and relieve his upper right back and shoulder muscles of a lot of the blade swinging burden. It would give him a bit more endurance at the expense of him being marginally less proficient single wielding with his off hand. All in all weighing the pros and cons, he thought it was a good move under the circumstances. Fret began to cycle through a series of blade spins and twirls, getting reacquainted with the feel of a sword in his left hand. It was a simple kata designed to calm the nerves and mind and didn't require a lot of energy. _

_Roberto was taken aback by Fret nonchalantly switching to his off hand and acting like it made no difference to him. As good as he was, Roberto had yet to train in the art of dual-wielding. He had intended to begin studies in it under Meruvis or Chrodechild, but with the fall of Astrasia and everything going on in the Magedom of Janam's war against the Order of the One True Way, there had been precious little time for new training. Roberto looked upon his opponent with newfound respect, though he was loathe to admitting it and didn't give anything away with his expression. Instead, he decided to press an attack to see if Fret's off hand wielding was just for show._

_Taking a deep breath to calm the pain, Roberto spun a full turn counterclockwise and used the centrifugal force generated by the spin to bring his blade down to bear hard at Fret's chest. It was a telegraphed move that wasn't intended to score a hit, but to test his defensive strength. Still, it turned out to be a grave miscalculation. Spinning attacks are visually impressive and generate great power, but are also quite slow and easily defended if not setup by preparatory moves. In other words, Fret saw the attack coming from a mile away. Rather than defend head on and bear the brunt of the vicious strike, Fret turned into the attack and ducked under the incoming blade. He positioned his own blade to intercept Roberto's not from in front/on top in order to block/parry like normal, but from underneath to lift Roberto's blade and make sure it cleared his head. The other purpose was to pull Roberto's sword, and by extension his arm, past the intended point of attack, hopefully leaving him off balance and out of position. _

_Fret's plan worked to perfection. Roberto stumbled forward slightly after the anticipation of his strike meeting the resistance of solid iron went largely unfulfilled. Now fighting left handed, the defensive maneuver left Fret to the side of and slightly behind Roberto, in perfect position for a strong forehand strike that Roberto would have no chance to defend against. Fret ripped his blade downward in a tight arc, cutting through the pants of Roberto's standard Blades of Night's Veil non-combat uniform and slicing deep through the tendons of his right hamstring. Roberto screamed in pain as his right leg gave out in response, and he fell on to his knee. As he struggled in an attempt to get to his feet, Fret spun back around in front of him and pressed the tip of his sword to Roberto's chest._

"_Yield! It's over," stated Fret._

_Roberto gritting out an angry denial, slapping away Fret's sword that wasn't being held firmly against his chest._

_Fret shook his head at Roberto in disbelief. "Who's he trying to kid? He can't fight anymore like this…" he thought to himself before saying out loud "give it up man, you're done."_

_Roberto shook his head, willing himself on to his feet even though he wasn't able to put any pressure on his right leg. He swung his blade in front of him while gingerly trying to maintain balance on his one good leg. Fret had no interest in humiliating Roberto at this point or picking him apart, but at the same time there was nothing he could do if his opponent wouldn't concede the fight. He sighed and pressed forward with an aggressive sweeping attack, ignoring the painful protests of his own body one more time. He knew that Roberto's mobility and balance was completely compromised. Roberto deftly knocked aside the strike aimed for his good leg, then his instincts kicked in before his brain could stop them and he automatically went into a riposte, stepping forward to deliver a devastating counter to his off balance opponent. However, as soon as his weight transferred to his right leg he screamed in pain and fell to his hands and knees, dropping his blade black in the process. Fret kicked aside the blade so that it was well out of reach, then on adrenaline alone spun his own sword around and punched Roberto on his broken nose again, this time with the brass reinforced hilt of his Magedom sword. Roberto's head snapped back, and consciousness threatened to leave him. His body dropped to the ground, wracked in pain. Pride driving him well past the point of common sense, he crawled and dragged himself up onto his elbows before Fret foot swept his arms out from under him, knocking him back on to his chest. _

_Fret couldn't believe how stubborn Roberto was being. He dropped to his knees in front of him and flipped him over on to his back. Resting his sword across Roberto's throat so his opponent couldn't move his head without cutting his own throat, Fret looked into his weary eyes and offered a conciliatory "I don't know about you, but I'm dying for some healing about now. Are you ready to call it? I think we've both made our points here, there's nothing to be gained by continuing."_

_Through his labored breathing, Roberto choked out the words he never imagined he'd have to say. "F-fine... I yi-yield…"_

_Fret nodded to Roberto, and then nodded to the others since they were unable to hear the concession from where they were sitting. With that, he threw aside his own sword and collapsed on to his back next to Roberto. Coming down rapidly from his adrenaline high, the pain he had been suppressing and fighting through grew until it became overwhelming. By the time the witnesses and healers reached the duelists, both had passed out from exhaustion and pain. _


	9. ‘Til near Death Do Us Part

Erin stared at Chrodechild and Marica in wide-eyed shock as Chrodechild told the story of the duel. "S-so they almost ki-killed each other?" she asked, horrified.

Chrodechild nodded. "Yes and no, I suppose. If it had happened elsewhere then one or the other could very well have died. But at the Blades' outpost we were prepared to heal them. So while they hurt each other gravely, the risk of death was quite low."

Marica gritted her teeth at how dismissive of it Chrodechild was being. She remembered the aftermath wasn't as cut and dried as Chrodechild made it sound. "Let me tell the next part of the story since it gives a little more insight into what happened after the duel…"

* * *

_Fret blinked open his eyes, and after several seconds panic began to set in as his vision was still dark. He sat up suddenly, groaning at the dull ache in his stomach before becoming dizzy and flopping back down into a prone position. He waved his hand in front of his face and realized that wherever he was, he was lying in a bed in a dark room. Before he could recall his last memories before waking up, he felt a soft hand touch his bare chest, and a familiar voice whispering his name._

"_Marica…" he said softly, smiling though she couldn't see it. He couldn't see her face either, but from the sound of her voice he could tell that she was kneeling at the side of the bed and leaning over him. "Where are we?"_

_Sighing, she replied, "Dr. Zahra's clinic." Anticipating his next question, she said "it's the middle of the night, that's why it's so dark." Marica moved her other hand to his face, gently caressing his cheek and running her fingers through his hair, comforting him._

_He reached up and placed his hand over her hand on his chest, giving it a gentle squeeze. "How come you're here in the middle of the night and not back at the inn sleeping?" he asked. "We had a busy day today, you shoulda gotten some rest."_

_Marica chewed on her bottom lip. Even though she'd had time to prepare a response, she still wasn't sure what to say._

_Fret noticed that she didn't reply right away, guessing there was some reason for it._

"_Marica?" he whispered as it started to dawn on him. "It – it's n-not, uhh… today, is it? I-I mean, what I think today is?"_

_Exhaling a large breath she was holding, her voice quivered as she answered, "No, Fret."_

_Fret reached over and lightly grasped the back of her neck, pulling her head down to rest on his chest. "How long have I been here?" he asked, not having any sense of time._

"_Four days…"_

_Fret gulped. "What happened? I only remember up until blacking out after dueling Roberto."_

_Marica shuddered. "You lost a lot of blood and had stopped breathing. To stabilize you until we could get you to Zahra, Asad gave you a Mystic Medicine treatment. Zahra used some kind of mage art to make your body regenerate the lost blood, but he said we wouldn't know until you woke up what kind of effect the injuries had on your brain. The mages have kept you under sleep spells to make sure your body rested and healed, but earlier today said that it was the last one and you would be ready to wake up when it wore off."_

"_Guess that was dicey, can't afford much brain loss with me, eh?" quipped Fret. He felt Marica stiffen in response to his joke. Her becoming tenser was not exactly the reaction he was going for._

"_So… uhh… you've been staying with me at night?" he asked, changing the subject._

"_And day…" she whispered matter-of-factly._

"_O-oh…" Fret frowned at the noticeable change in tone of the conversation. Marica had seemed very emotional at the start, but she now sounded very detached emotionally. He interpreted it to mean that now she knew he was okay, she wasn't concerned anymore. "I-I guess I don't know what to say."_

_Marica took a deep breath. She was an emotional wreck and she knew it. One part of her wanted cry in relief and hold him tight, the other part wanted to kill him herself for putting her through so much over a stupidly selfish display of pride. She needed him to know that things had changed and he needed to be more responsible. With the Order of the True Way situation quickly growing bigger than they could fathom, people needed him. SHE needed him because this was all so overwhelming to her at times, and she didn't want to think about how she'd get through it without her best friend. He needed to grow up from the reckless carefree boy he was, and in a hurry._

_Sighing, Marica replied, "How about, 'I'm sorry for being a self-centered jerk who hasn't figured out that we're in a situation much bigger than us, or that my careless recklessness affects not only me but the people who rely on me to be a leader, and the people who care about me?'" In a trembling voice that was barely a whisper she added, "That would be a good start anyway."_

_It was Fret's turn to stiffen in response. He winced at Marica's remark, totally caught off guard. His mind raced as he tried to figure out where she was coming from. He unconsciously pulled his hand away that had been gently playing with her hair, laying it back down at his side. "Self-centered jerk?" he questioned to himself. He'd been called careless and reckless his whole life, so that wasn't anything new. But he pondered, "How am I self-centered? I never ask anyone to risk doing something I wouldn't do myself. And if anything I get criticized for going out of my way to help others. Would a self-centered jerk have jumped in and saved Cougar?"_

_Fret blinked, staring at the top of Marica's head lying on his chest, even though it was only a dim shadow in the dark room. "Why?" he thought, "Why would she call me that?" He thought some more about her words – about his actions affecting more than just himself, and people who care about him. "Did she mean herself? Is that why she stayed with me the whole time?" Fret frowned, the word 'leader' popped into his consciousness. A word that Marica used to describe him, a word old man Logan had used to describe him when Cherem Company first met the Magedom forces, a word that Meruvis had used to describe him when explaining the dueling rules. Fret had never asked to lead anyone or anything, in fact he was more used to deferring to Jale and Marica. But he supposed there was no use in denying that's what he had become. He sighed as realization settled in, and the weight of Marica's words began to rest on his shoulders. A twinge of fear threatened to envelop the youth, and at once he understood what Marica felt and why she said what she did. Neither he nor Marica recognized the depth of the emotion they felt towards each other personally. But he did realize that she'd been scared for him. And that DID make him a 'self-centered jerk' as she put it, since in challenging Roberto to a duel he wasn't thinking of anyone or anything but himself._

_Several minutes had gone by in silence since Marica had made her remark. She had felt him physically react to what she said, and it hadn't gone unnoticed that he had withdrawn his hand from her. She had also heard him sigh a few times. Initially she thought maybe it had been too soon after he had woken up to say something like that, taking his physical cues and lack of vocal response to mean that Fret was angry with her. As the silence continued, Marica grew impatient and then irritated at him. "He could at least acknowledge me, even if he doesn't agree!" she thought. Finally her patience wore out and she backed away and stood up._

"_Anyway, I'm glad you're okay," she stated plainly. "I should go…" she muttered, though she wasn't sure where exactly she'd go in the middle of the night since she didn't actually have a room at the inn. She really had stayed with Fret the whole time. But she began to walk through the darkened room to where she knew the door was._

"_P-please… don't l-leave…" he pleaded, surprising both of them with the tinge of desperation in his crackling voice. "I… I-I'm s-sorry…"_

_Marica stopped in her tracks, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. She looked back, and could see his dim shadow propped up on his elbow facing her. She closed her eyes, fighting back the tears welling in them. Not trusting her voice, she simply walked back to the bed and sat down on the edge of it at Fret's side._

_Fret slid his arm around Marica's waist and pulled her closer, repeating "I'm sorry" softly. "Pl-please stay…" he whispered. Not letting go of her, Fret moved over to give her more room on the bed. Marica allowed herself to be pulled down into a lying position, turning to face him in the process, resting her head on his shoulder and draping an arm over his body._

_The pair laid together in silence for a minute before Fret started to talk. "You're r-right… I understand now. Forgive me?"_

_Marica smiled happily, feeling the stress she'd been under washing away. "Of course…" she replied._

_Fret began talking again, and after a few sentences of his rambling she put a finger up to his lips and whispered "shhhh…" A minute later, Fret could hear her steady deep breathing and realized that she had already fallen asleep. He smiled and closed his eyes, and a few minutes later was back to sleep himself._

_Later in the morning, Fret received a final checkup from Zahra and was released from the clinic. As he and Marica were gathering their things, Fret noticed a distinctive scabbard lying on the table with his armor. He picked it up, and unsheathed a black blade. Giving Marica a questioning look, she explained. "Roberto brought it by a few days ago, he said it was yours and you should have it when you woke up."_

"_Funny thing about that," Fret thought to himself. "I'm not sure I want it anymore." All he said out loud though was "Ahhh… let's go."_

* * *

"_Lord Fret!" exclaimed Chrodechild as Fret and Marica walked into the main room of the Blades outpost. "You're up and well again!"_

"_Yeah," he replied sheepishly. "Sorry about my behavior the last time I was here."_

"_You and me both," a voice said from behind him._

_Fret turned around to see Roberto and Meruvis approaching them. Other than some light bruising, Roberto's face was mostly back to normal._

"_Oh, hey, Roberto," Fret smiled. "You doin' okay?"_

_Roberto smirked. "Yep, all put back together."_

_Fret pulled the scabbard containing the black blade off his belt and offered it to Roberto. "Here…" he said._

"_What's this about?" asked Roberto._

_Fret sighed. "Sorry for being an idiot, it shouldn't have had to come to fighting for us to settle our differences."_

"_Maybe not," Roberto replied, "but it happened and you won. Keep it."_

"_I don't want it if it's going to keep things tense between us."_

_Roberto looked at Fret in amusement. "Let's just say I might now understand what Commander Chrodechild sees in you. I'm fine, the blade it yours. Besides, we're on the same side and I want you to have something better than that cheesy Magedom sword."_

_Fret laughed. "Alright, so we're cool?"_

"_That we are."_

_Fret held up his right hand, clenched into a fist. "Hold up your hand like this," he said to Roberto._

_Roberto raised an eyebrow quizzically, but did as requested. Fret pushed his hand forward, bumping fists with Roberto._

"_What was that gesture?" asked Meruvis, who had been standing there listening to them._

_Fret shrugged. "It's kind of like a handshake."_

"_Lord Fret," Chrodechild interjected. "I have a question if you will…"_

"_Sure, what's up?"_

"_Towards the end of the duel, I noticed that you switched your sword to your off hand and seemed not to miss a beat," she started. Fret nodded in response._

"_So why is it that you do not dual-wield if you can handle a sword in each hand?"_

"_Yes, I was wondering that as well," said Meruvis._

"_Well…" Fret began, "a couple of reasons I suppose. I grew up using staff style weapons like a cudgel, so I had to develop both of my hands pretty equally. But as a result, dual-wielding only works for me when I've got roughly the same weight and balance in each hand. I just get all messed up otherwise."_

"_But that does not explain why you don't simply carry two of the same type of sword?" questioned Chrodechild._

"_Yeah… well… with having to get all of the Cherem Company equipment upgraded and buying supplies and all, I just haven't been able to afford a second sword for myself. Even the Magedom sword was something I just found out in the Mislato River area, I started using it because it was better than the broadsword I had before that. And like I was saying, I couldn't dual-wield those because they were too different in weight and balance."_

"_I see," said Chrodechild. "So because of the uniqueness of the black blade, you will be limited to single wielding it as well?"_

"_Pretty much," Fret answered. "But it's alright, it's still a big upgrade from the Magedom sword, and I had been getting by okay with that."_

"_Yes, we had definitely noticed that," agreed Meruvis._

"_Anyway, we just wanted to stop by and see you guys before heading back to Castle Starcache," Fret said. "Hopefully we'll get a chance to fight alongside each other again."_

"_The operative word being 'alongside'," giggled Marica. "You know, instead of fighting each other."_

"_Yeah, yeah… I learned my lesson," winked Fret._

"_Until we meet again then, good luck and safe travels," said Meruvis._

_As Fret and Marica turned to leave, Chrodechild stopped them. "Lord Fret, wait," she said._

_Fret and Marica turned around as Chrodechild approached. Taking her own scabbard off her belt, she offered it in her outstretched hand to Fret._

"_Chrodechild?" asked a confused Fret._

"_Take this," she stated plainly._

"_Y-your blade? I can't do that!" protested Fret. Roberto and Meruvis looked on in disbelief._

"_I insist, Lord Fret. Now you can dual-wield a pair of the famed black blades feared by the enemies of the Blades of Night's Veil. Consider it a gift from me, one that I pray serves you well."_

_Meruvis spoke up, "Commander Chrodechild, I will send a runner down to Gadburg's shop to commission a replacement for you."_

"_Ask him to check on mine as well," said Roberto. "My new blade was supposed to be ready today."_

"_Wow! I don't know what to say… thanks!" Unsheathing both of HIS black blades, Fret grinned widely as he stepped away from the group. He tested the weight in each hand briefly before launching himself into an advanced kata based on one he used to do with a staff. He finished it off with a forward flip dual strike against an imaginary target._

"_These. Are .Amazing!" he exclaimed, slightly out of breath._

_Chrodechild chuckled. "Did you notice it, Meruvis?" He nodded in response._

"_Notice what?" asked Marica._

_Roberto spoke up. "I think I can answer that. The way Fret fights with two swords in comparison to a single blade. For most people, dual-wielding is unnatural and their technique and speed is somewhat compromised when you look at the individual movements of each sword arm. But Fret is noticeably faster and more refined when dual-wielding than he is with a single blade. It's exceptionally rare to be so natural at it."_

"_Very insightful, Roberto," commented Chrodechild. "You are absolutely correct." She shook her head. "And so young… he's got the stuff legends are made of."_

"_Well just don't tell HIM that," joked Marica, grinning. "He's hard enough to handle without getting it in his head that he's legendary."_

"_I understand," replied Chrodechild, before adding "but he very well may be before this is all over."_

_Sheathing his new blades, Fret came back to the group. He and Marica said their goodbyes and started the journey home._

* * *

Erin looked at Chrodechild and Marica. She whistled, and then whispered, "Wow… that's unbelievable."

Marica nodded. "Pretty wild, eh?"

Erin shook her head. "So after all that, you really still think that Fret is more interested in Chrodechild here than yourself?"

Marica's eyes opened wide and she stared at Erin in stunned silence, giving her a bewildered _"what the hell are you thinking bringing that up now?" _expression.

Chrodechild, seeing Marica's facial expression, lightly chuckled. Marica looked at her, still too stunned to speak.

"Marica," began Chrodechild. "I won't deny that I find Lord Fret intriguing or that I would not return his affection if it was offered to me. But he has already given his heart to someone, and that someone is not me… it is you."

"Wh-what? H-how do you know this?" asked a skeptical Marica.

Erin interjected. "It's ob-vi-ous, silly!"

"It really is," agreed Chrodechild. "Your story about what happened between you two at Zahra's after the duel just confirms it even more."

"But like with you, Marica," said Erin, "whether he actually realizes it is another story. It took me pushing you to be honest about your feelings before the lantern lit up so to speak. And hey, Chrodechild, if I may, you should give serious consideration to Asad. That man simply adores you!"

"Asad? Hmmm… I-I wasn't aware. But since the fall of Astrasia it's been hard to be aware of much of anything besides the war with the Order. That is… interesting," she smiled.

"This is a lot to deal with," admitted Marica. "But it'll all be for nothing if we end up having to throw him off his balcony because of Icas," she grinned.

Erin and Chrodechild laughed. "I guess we will find out very soon," said Chrodechild as they stepped off the lift that had finally made it to the 4th floor, and walked towards Fret's room.


	10. Girl Trouble

Fret stood on the balcony outside his personal quarters at Castle Starcache, absentmindedly looking out over the mid-day bustle of activity around the castle grounds. One of the few benefits of being the leader of Cherem Company was having a private suite to himself at the south end of the 4th floor of the castle. It was as messy as any typical teenager's place, he just had more of it. The hallway door to the suite opened up into a front room that had some comfortable chairs and was well suited for relaxing comfortably with visitors. Going through the entry room led to the bedroom, and then the back of the bedroom opened up into a large open air balcony. The view from the top floor of the castle here was quite spectacular, the horizon stretched out as far as the Flesaria Forest, the southern sky a boundless sea of blue. When they had first returned from El-Qaral and found the previously small castle ruins had turned into a massive decidedly non-ruined castle, Fret had spent a lot of time standing in this very spot, daydreaming about the adventures to come. But now he was just weary from the weight of reality crushing down on those carefree dreams, and eyes that used to greedily take in every detail of the landscape as if not believing it was all really happening, were without focus. The upcoming missions to recover the four stolen chronicles were of critical importance, and Fret was beating himself up for allowing himself personally and Cherem Company as a whole to waste so much time with nuisance busy work missions over the last couple of seasons. Somewhere along the way they'd started taking pretty much every job request or mission that Moana posted. While the extra income had certainly come in handy, it was frustrating that the more they did for people, the more people wanted from them.

This snow fairy business was a prime example of the problem, and for Fret was the tipping point. Even if Tehah Village didn't have a militia of its own, it would have made much more sense to call on help from nearby instead of dragging Cherem Company members halfway across the continent. Ultimately it was his fault for agreeing to do it, of course, but he hated being put in the position of having to do it or feel guilty for turning them down. And what started out as a simple sounding mission despite the long journey had grown into a big pain, one that was now going to require at least a second roundtrip to resolve.

Fret had uncharacteristically been unable to sleep the previous night, despite the exhaustion he felt when he got back to the castle. He'd gone outside the castle fairly early in the morning to find old Dogha and see what he knew about the snow fairy, already in a foul mood because the first venture to the Ch'olui Mountains looking for her had resulted in more or less a waste of a season. He left Dogha even more irritated than he was before, after finding out that Dogha knew exactly who she was, where to find her, and how to get past her whole "do you like snow?" routine. Fret had been stretched so thin by all the running around that when they left for the Ch'olui Mountains he didn't even think to ask the person who knew those mountains better than anyone else in the world, and who happened lived at his own castle. And truthfully he was rather pissed off that none of his companions thought of it either, nor had Moana suggested talking to Dogha when she was telling him about the job.

Fret was still a rather inexperienced leader, and was feeling a bit overwhelmed that the other Starbearers were increasingly just following his lead and letting him decide everything. He was grateful for the trust and respect, but the responsibility was wearing on him. He worried that he was going to make a mistake that would lead everyone to their doom. Fret knew he had an impulsive "go with the flow" personality, and he was struggling against himself to rein it in. Those personality traits made him resilient and quick to adapt to changing situations, but had also resulted in wasting tons of time on all of these aimless side quests. He felt obligated to finish this snow fairy quest he started, but after he got back he was going to get Cherem Company back on track with recovering the stolen chronicles and focusing on stopping the Order and this One King they were trying to summon or whatever.

* * *

Fret's thoughts were interrupted by his good friend Jale approaching behind him.

"Dude! What the hell?" started Jale.

"Wh-what? Knock much?"

"You door was wide open so I just came in. Anyway, are you _trying_ to get all of the girls here to choose between killing you or leaving?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"That freak, Icas! He's running around practically molesting every girl he comes across in the castle. It's total chaos downstairs! If I were you I'd hide before your room is stormed by a mob of angry women looking to use you for target practice," he laughed.

Chrodechild, Marica, and Erin entered the front room of Fret's quarters in time to hear Jale comment to him out on the balcony that he should probably go into hiding. Marica immediately put a finger up to her lips, indicating to the other two girls that they all should be quiet and see how Fret and Jale's conversation played out. They quietly moved over to the side of the front room and sat down in the chairs. They were well situated within earshot of the balcony but out of the line of sight if Fret or Jale happened to look back towards the door. It was a perfect spot to eavesdrop while also having an excuse of having been waiting on them to finish if the boys came back into the front room and discovered them.

"Ugh, is it that bad?" groused Fret.

"Dude, would I be in here griping at you if it wasn't? You know I don't normally pay much attention to the drama that goes on around here."

"So why do you care this time?" asked Fret.

Jale shrugged. "Maybe I thought looking out for the leader's safety was the sidekick's job?"

"You can stop that leader/sidekick crap right now, Jale!" snapped Fret. "I didn't ask for this, and you know I've never thought of myself as being above anyone else here. And I never will!"

"Uhhh… joke? You remember those don't you? Do we need to have Moana send a group out on a quest to find your lost sense of humor?"

Fret sighed, the anger draining from his expression. "Sorry man, I'm just stressed out and having a hard time dealing with everything right now. Anyway, what's the deal with Icas? He showed up this early this morning while I was outside talking to old Dogha about the freakin' snow fairy, saying he was being chased by an assassin. The assassin showed up a few minutes later and Icas begged for sanctuary here so the assassin wouldn't kill him. I mean, what was I supposed to do? Tell him 'sorry, have a nice day!' and watch the assassin cut him down in cold blood right there?" Fret scowled in frustration.

Jale nodded, seeing the weariness in Fret's features. "I see what you mean, but still… Icas is making the girls here unhappy with his act... which is going to make for a bunch of unhappy guys if all the women are crabby," grinned Jale.

"Why's that?"

"Good grief, Fret, are you really that dense?" asked Jale in exasperation, while in the other room Marica and Erin made exaggerated nodding motions to each other and clamped their hands over their mouths to stifle the giggles trying to escape.

Jale shook his head, continuing, "You know, it kills me that you've got babes everywhere eating out of the palm of your hand and you're just oblivious to it! Do you know how many guys would kill to have even one hot girl look at them the way pretty much all of them look at you? Are you even into girls?"

Fret waved his hand dismissively. "Really, Jale, really? _That's_ what this is all about? That Icas is either going to take or scare away whoever it is you're interested in?" he sneered. "So, who is it anyway?"

Jale bit his lower lip, trying to keep from losing his cool. "Why are you being such a jerk?" he asked coldly.

"Because I don't understand why you're in here whining to me about it! When did you and everyone else lose the ability to do anything for yourselves? The Jale I know would've just gone and kicked Icas' ass. Come on man, you've never been the type to ask other people to solve your problems…"

Fret frowned. "I-I think that's a big part of what's eating away at me." Sighing deeply, he explained, "I mean… it's like this with just about everyone now. I can't walk from one end of the castle to the other without getting hit up to deal with some problem, and hardly anyone ever just shoots the breeze with me anymore. It's bad enough when the people we've met since leaving Citro expect me to supply all the answers, but when even you and Liu are treating me differently? I-I don't know… I wish… I wish I could explain how it feels to just want to be one of the gang, but to be constantly reminded that I'm not anymore. Anyway, I'm sorry for snapping at you, man. You didn't deserve that."

Marica felt her heart in her throat as she heard Fret lament. She'd known that he had been on edge, but she had no idea that he felt so burdened, and so… alone.

Jale put his hand on Fret's shoulder, saying, "Hey, no harm done. I know all about wanting nothing more than acceptance, but having it denied."

Erin winced. From talking to Marica earlier she knew that Jale was referring to him relationship with his mom growing up. Hearing him now made her wish for a time when he would open up to her and she could be there to comfort him.

"I know man, I know. You, of all people, know what I'm talking about. Maybe you'll settle down with a nice girl who'll make you forget about what happened in the past."

"Maybe…" said Jale, before saying with a wry grin, "unless she runs off with Icas first."

Fret laughed. "Okay, okay. We'll deal with Icas. Any ideas on where to find him in this place?"

Jale pondered the situation. "Well, when I saw him it was down at the other end of the hall and I think he was working his way up to each floor. He probably went up to the roof after he pestered everyone on this floor."

Fret gave a devious grin."The roof eh? Think we can get away with pushing him off and making it look like an accident?"

Erin's jaw dropped and she stared at Marica before breaking into a huge smile and making exaggerated gestures – pointing at Marica and towards Fret and crossing her fingers indicating "together." Marica blushed while Chrodechild just chuckled softly at the two friends.

Jale and Fret laughed together at the joke. "Probably not," replied Jale. "However, maybe you could send him on a long mission into the Infinity to keep him away from the castle."

"Now _that's_ a great idea!" exclaimed Fret. "See, I don't have to come up with all the answers!" he laughed.

"Fair enough, Fret. In all seriousness, I'll be better about treating you more as my friend and less as my commander or whatever."

Fret nodded in appreciation and the two bumped fists. "I know you didn't ask it seriously earlier, but if you'll keep it a secret for now I'll answer your question about my interest in girls."

Marica, who had been contemplating Fret's source of stress, perked up. "Of course, you know I wouldn't go gossiping about it," replied Jale.

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, you asked if I was even into girls. Yeah, I am. One in particular, but I haven't gotten up the courage to tell her yet." He sighed.

"No way, _you_ lacking courage? With the way any girl around here would tell you yes? What's the problem?" asked Jale with a smirk.

"Well… it's complicated I guess. Or maybe a better way to say it is I could be risking a lot depending on how she felt about me."

"I don't understand. A risk other than the obvious of getting your feelings hurt? Is it something where some rival might want you dead?"

Fret grimaced. "No, no rival that I'm aware of. I guess she could maybe want me dead herself," he chuckled. "No, the risk is she's a close friend and I don't know what I'd do if I destroyed that by asking her to be more than friends. And I don't mean that she'd necessarily hate me, mainly that she wouldn't feel as comfortable around me and the closeness of our friendship would die."

"I can see that being a big concern," nodded Jale. "Hey! Wait!"

"What?" asked a perplexed Fret.

Jale broke out into a huge grin. "Close friend? You're telling me that you're in love with Marica!" he exclaimed.

"Dude! Not so freakin' loud!" hissed Fret. "You practically announced it to the whole damn castle!"

Erin was waving her hands and pantomiming shrieking in joy at Marica, who was sitting in wide-eyed stunned disbelief. She hadn't expected this bombshell to be dropped, and now she felt rather guilty that she eavesdropped on Fret confiding it to Jale.

"Wow… I guess I never thought of you two that way, but I guess it kinda makes sense with how close you are."

"So, Jale… your turn. Now ya gotta tell me who the 'she' is that scared you enough to come up here about Icas," grinned Fret. "Does the lucky girl know yet?"

Erin sucked in her breath, her expression turning anxious. She was torn. On the one hand, she really wanted to know if it was her that Jale was interested in. On the other hand, if Jale said some other girl's name she was going to be crushed. In the span of a couple of seconds she went back and forth on whether or not to get up and run out of the room before Jale gave his answer. Marica silently worried for her friend, wishing at that moment that they weren't there. Partly because she didn't know what Jale would say, but more so because it didn't feel right to violate Jale's privacy like this even if he gave the answer Erin was wanting. She had already violated Fret's. She sighed, knowing it was the moment of truth and they were going to witness it.

"No, she doesn't know. So you have to promise that you won't go blabbing it."

"No problem!" smiled Fret.

"It's-"

A bubbly voice loudly called from the doorway as she came in from the hall, "Fret! My fated lover! Are you in here!" Maybelle didn't even notice the three shocked girls sitting in the front room and she bounced through into the bedroom…

"Wh-what? How did _you_ get in here?" demanded Fret.

Jale raised an eyebrow at Fret. "Friend of yours?"

Maybelle spoke up first. "Fret is my lover, we're fated to be together for eternity!" she squealed. "He is Ru'ukahthis reincarnate, and I am reborn of Raphelancia, the Warrior of Light! He promised on the eve of battle 1000 years ago that nothing could ever keep us apart!"

Fret closed his eyes and rested his forehead in his hand, sighing deeply. "_Ol' Ru probably impaled himself on a spear to get away from her,"_he thought. "Her name is Maybelle, we ran into her on the Ch'olui Mountains on the snow fairy mission. As you can tell, she thinks I'm someone from 1000 years ago."

"I _know_ it is you Ru'ukahthis! You'll remember me soon enough!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Fret, suddenly feeling the tendrils of fear tugging at him. "Look, I don't know you, alright? And I don't _want_ to know you!" he shouted in anger.

"Why are you being so mean to me? Is it because of the little white-haired girl that pretends to like you? I'm much prettier than her, don't you think? And I'd do _anything_ to be with you!"

Marica had recovered from her shock, and jumped up out of the chair in the front room. Fuming, she motioned for Chrodechild and Erin to follow, and stormed into Fret's bedroom. "What's with all the racket in here?" Glaring at Maybelle in disgust, she sneered "Just what are _you_ doing here? I thought we made it clear you were _not_ welcome at Castle Starcache."

"Oh please… is that what you were babbling about before?" scoffed Maybelle. "I only heard you making a fool out of yourself, so obviously lying to me and my sweet Fret, reborn of Ru'ukahthis. Leave us, Fret and I have much catching up to do!"

Erin shook her head in disbelief. "_This Maybelle character is even more over the top than Marica described,"_ she thought.

Marica was visibly shaking she was so mad. "Jale! Get her out of here _now_!" she hissed angrily.

Jale nodded nervously. Grabbing Maybelle by the back of the collar, he literally began dragging her kicking and screaming out of Fret's room. "Uhhh… Erin?" he asked shyly. "Would you mind coming with me to escort her out? You know, just to help make sure she doesn't try anything crazy?"

Despite the situation, Erin was giddy inside at the request. It gave her a small amount of hope since Jale had asked her and not the more physically capable Chrodechild, though she wasn't positive that it meant anything. Erin gave a small smile and agreed, and followed Jale out. Had things been different, Marica would've been just as happy for Erin. At this point in time though, that thought was far from the forefront of her mind.

"Think Roberto is downstairs cackling like a little girl about now?" asked Fret sarcastically.

"Roberto?" replied a confused Chrodechild, who had no idea what had just happened.

"Sorry, I guess it calls for an explanation," grumbled Marica. "We met that psycho chick on the Ch'olui Mountains, and Roberto gave a certain _brainless_ leader of Cherem Company a hard time about telling her where we lived when the last thing _most_ of us wanted was for her to show up here."

Fret cringed slightly at the venom in Marica's voice, at the complete lack of humor or kidding around in her tone as she called him brainless. Nor did he miss that she implied he wanted Maybelle to come here. Marica had criticized him lots of times in their lives, but the way she was acting now was like she was thoroughly disgusted with him. Deciding not to risk saying something he shouldn't, he spun on his heels and without a word bolted from the room, leaving a bewildered Chrodechild and Marica in his wake.


	11. An Unexpected Star

As Fret passed through the tavern into the northern hall on the 1st floor of the castle, he saw Lycia of the Furious Roar tribe sitting at a table mumbling to herself. He had enough on his mind already, but after a brief hesitation he asked her what was up.

"Oh, don't mind me. I'm just grumbling to myself about how terrible the food is around here, pining for some Pekklar or some of the veggies we grew back at Cragbark," she replied.

"Hmmm… I guess your tribe probably does have a lot different tastes than us humans. I probably can't help with Pekklar meat around here, but I'm going outside for some fresh air. Why don't you come with me and we'll stop by and talk to Yadima and Muro. If anyone around these parts can grow the type of stuff you like, it'd be them."

Lycia thought about it for a moment. Smiling, she stood up and walked out of the castle and towards the fields with Fret.

"There you are!" exclaimed a loud female voice from nearby. "I knew you'd come for me as soon as you got away from that witch!"

Fret froze, turning his head in what seemed in his mind to be slow motion until his eyes confirmed what his ears had heard – Maybelle. He groaned.

"I can't take it anymore, Maybelle! Get away from me!" shouted Fret.

Lycia didn't know who this girl was, but she knew Fret was in distress over the situation and it was her duty to get rid of her to help the one who helped the Furious Roar without prejudice.

Baring her claws and teeth, Lycia growled ferociously. "Fool girl! Take your leave of this place or die where you stand in a pool of your own blood. Either way, it matters not to me," she said coldly.

Maybelle's face turned pale in terror as she took in the threat from the large feline-like creature. "I-I-I… oh-okay… I-I'll l-leave…" she stammered as she began to slowly backpedal away from them.

Suddenly Fret had an idea, one that he hoped he wouldn't regret later. He put a hand on Lycia's shoulder, nodding in appreciation of her help but indicating he had another plan. "Maybelle, wait a minute. Th-there's something I need to see for myself about you. How that goes will determine whether or not you can stay here."

Maybelle smiled gleefully. "I knew you'd come to your senses! Now-"

"No…" Fret interjected, cutting her off. "No more of that right now. Follow me…" Fret bowed to Lycia, saying "thanks for helping me out, I'll take it from here. Yadima and Muro are right around the corner," he said, pointing further up the path. "Tell them the kinds of things you're looking for, and that I said I want them to try to grow stuff that the Furious Roar likes if it's possible."

* * *

Fret led Maybelle back into the castle and up the stairs. A minute later, Marica ran back into the entrance hall from the other direction.

"Moana, have you seen Fret," she asked, a little out of breath. "I need to find him."

"Sure, dear, he was heading upstairs with that Maybelle girl not even a minute ago."

"WHAT?" shrieked Marica before charging up the stairs in pursuit. She was in way too much of a hurry to wait on the lift.

Marica skidded to a stop outside of Fret's quarters. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves and heart rate, she started walking towards the bedroom before being stopped dead in her tracks by what she heard.

"You want me to touch it, like this?" Maybelle asked Fret softly.

"Yes, please touch it, right there," replied Fret.

Marica felt like she had been slapped hard in the face, completely blindsided by the betrayal of the man who had just confessed his love of her to Jale not even an hour ago. Her thoughts were a confused jumble, but the mental image of Fret and Maybelle in the next room having sex forced down her feelings of hurt. In its place was rage bubbling to the surface as she stalked into the bedroom. Seething, she yelled, "Just _what_ the hell is going on in here?" right as a white light flashed.

Fret and Maybelle both jumped in surprise, and there was a loud clunk as something fell to the floor between them. Marica looked down to see that before dropping it, Fret had been holding the _Divine Edge _blades, one of the Chronicles.

Fret stared at Marica in shock, seeing the look of pure hatred in her eyes that was not only directed at Maybelle. Very quietly, Fret stared at the floor and said "S-so Maybelle, it looks like you're a Starbearer too. You can ask around the castle what that means. Since you're a Starbearer you can stay here and help in our war against the Order. But like I was saying before… there is no "us" and there won't ever be. There's someone else that's special to me, and if you can't accept that and stop pursuing me then you'll have to… as Lycia said earlier… take your leave of this place." Taking a nervous glance at Marica before averting his eyes once more, he continued, "Regardless of who you think I was in a former life, I'm not him. I hope the vision from the Chronicle has made you see that."

Maybelle nodded meekly, wincing at the use of the same phrase that the cat woman had used when threatening her life. "I-I un-understand. I-I promise not to cause any problems." With that, she bowed her head and scurried from the room, avoiding eye contact with either Fret or Marica.

Fret sighed, bending over to pick up the dropped _Divine Edge_ Chronicle. Walking towards the door to take the blades back to Chrodechild, he paused for a moment. With his back turned to Marica, he softly said, "That's twice today you've looked at me with hatred in your eyes. I don't know what I did to make you hate me all of a sudden, but I don't want to talk about it right now," and then continued out the door. Marica tried to fight back the forming tears, but lost the battle and began to shudder as sobs wracked her body. Not wanting to go back down to her own room and risk being seen like this, she threw herself down on Fret's bed and buried her head in a pillow as she continued to cry. Between the stress of the day and the leftover fatigue from the previous few days, it wasn't long before she cried herself to sleep.


	12. Cultural Misunderstanding

After returning _Divine Edge_ to Chrodechild and telling her he'd be dealing with the Icas situation, Fret quickly excusing himself to avoid a discussion about the events of the day and wandered back down to the tavern area on the 1st floor rather than returning to his room. He hadn't eaten anything all day and the hunger was catching up to him, but he was also thinking of asking Erin about Marica's behavior. Another part of him though wanted to just avoid thinking about her for a bit, while still another part of him wanted to head down to Citro Village by himself for a few days and get away from everything. But that thought just made him more depressed, since not only wouldn't he get any peace in Citro, it'd be even worse when he came back and got blasted for being selfish and irresponsible by running off on his own.

Seeing Erin was busy waiting on the remaining stragglers of the lunch crowd made it easy for Fret to opt for not asking her about Marica. Helping himself to a plate of food from the buffet, he made his way over to a table and sat down next to Lycia. Noticing she was in a much better mood than earlier, Fret asked her if Yadima and Muro were going to be able to grow some things better suited to the diets of the Furious Roar.

"Oh, yes! They even said they had a newly tilled section of land that they could plant in right away! Thanks again for making the suggestion to ask them about it. It was very kind of you to think of us like that."

Fret smiled. "No problem, glad to help." Reaching over to Lycia, Fret playfully scratched her on the head behind her ears, grinning as he said "And thank _you_ for helping me out with Maybelle."

Fret's unexpected scratching elicited a purr from Lycia, who quickly stifled it and stood up, enraged by the action. "HOW DARE YOU!" she screamed. The confusion barely had time to register on his face before he lost consciousness from the force of Lycia's clawed paw smashing into the side of his head. Lycia's scream and the following crash of Fret's chair and body hitting the floor drew the attention of the dozen or so Starbearers in the tavern area. Sisuca screamed when she saw Fret lying on the ground with blood trickling from his ear. As a crowd started gathering, Diulf and Servillah of the Furious Roar tribe grabbed Lycia and pulled her away from the scene. Diulf took her back to the quarters the tribe shared while Servillah sought to find out what exactly happened and why. Running over to him, Erin quickly administered healing to Fret's bleeding head. Seeing who was left of the crowd around them, she then yelled for her dad and Rajim to carry him up to Zahra and Eunice's clinic on the 2nd floor, and for Minen and Buchse to find Marica and have her come to the tavern.

* * *

"The Furious Roar are _not_ barbarians!" declared an exasperated Servillah, defending her tribe that was coming under verbal assault from the half dozen people remaining. "Look, I'm trying to find out what happened. Did anyone see what provoked Lycia to attack? This is most unusual, she would not have done it without cause."

No one had actually seen the attack, but had only witnessed the aftermath. Servillah promised to get to the bottom of it and returned to the Furious Roar quarters. About an hour later, Minen came back to tell Erin that she and Buchse had looked and asked all around the castle and no one had seen Marica in awhile. Erin found that puzzling because her friend hadn't mentioned planning to go anywhere today outside the castle grounds.

* * *

Marica awoke, momentarily dazed as to where she was before she remembered what happened and why she fell asleep in Fret's bed. She stood up and stretched, and with a frown noted the low light in the room. Walking over to the balcony she saw that the sun had almost set over the horizon. She muttered to herself, _"I'm going to pay for taking such a long nap when I can't get to sleep tonight." _Making her way back through the bedroom and into the front room of the quarters, she idly wondered if Fret had come back to the room at any point and just let her keep sleeping. Noting her appearance in a mirror and the rumbling in her stomach, she sighed and set off to take another shower before going downstairs for some dinner.

As the lift opened and Marica stepped off into the 1st floor hall, Moana immediately got her attention and told her that Erin had been looking for her all afternoon. When Marica asked if Moana knew what it was about, she replied cryptically "Yes, dear, but it isn't my place to say anything." Thanking Moana, she turned and walked into the lantern lit tavern. Business was in full swing now that it was dusk and the day was winding down, though to Marica it seemed like there was a different vibe to the atmosphere than usual. It seemed… tense. She was still taking things in as Erin ran up to her.

"Where have you been all day?" asked Erin. "I've had people looking everywhere for you!"

Marica gave her friend a puzzled look. "I-I wasn't anywhere, just upstairs sleeping all afternoon."

Now it was Erin's turn to look confused. "But we checked your room several times and you weren't in there?"

Marica smiled sheepishly, explaining how she ended up napping in Fret's room.

"Oh, well that makes sense then," replied Erin. "No one would've thought to check there for you."

"Why's that? I'd have thought seeing if Fret was in his room and knew where I was would've been one of the more obvious things to do."

Erin nodded sadly at her friend, looking down at the ground as she softly said "It's because of him we were looking for you… he's been hurt."

"Maybelle…" Marica gritted, her anger flaring.

Erin shook her head. "No, it was Lycia." She then explained that apparently Fret had done something that caused Lycia to attack him, and he was now up at Zahra's recovering from a concussion and ruptured ear drum.

Once Marica got past the initial fear that Fret's life was in danger, her expression turned to one of bewilderment. "And no one has asked Lycia or even Diulf what happened yet?" she asked.

Erin shrugged. "Servillah said she'd find out. She came back out earlier and went upstairs, presumably to Zahra's, but she didn't say anything to anyone and she hasn't come back yet. I assume they don't think it needs to be explained to any of us at this point."

"Well, we're not going to find anything out by standing around. Let's go talk to Lycia."

* * *

King Diulf answered the door to the Furious Roar quarters and welcomed the two human girls into the room. Lycia, who had been sitting in a chair in the far side of the room, stood up and walked over with slight trepidation. While not at all afraid, she didn't know what the intentions of the girls in being here was.

"If you are here to punish Lycia for what she did, I assure you that I will prevent you from it," warned Diulf.

Marica raised both hands up to indicate their intent was non-aggressive. "Whoa, slow down here guys. We're not here for anything hostile. It's just that no one seems to know what caused the incident."

Erin nodded. "Lycia, we know you wouldn't have done something like that for no reason, we just want to understand what caused it."

Diulf looked rather embarrassed, and left the three women to talk. Even to the humans it was noticeable that Lycia visibly relaxed. She explained to Marica and Erin how when she and Fret were talking, he had scratched her behind her ears.

Marica and Erin looked at each other, the expressions confirming that neither of them got what the problem was. "I-I'm not sure we understand why that's a problem," admitted Marica.

"It's just not something you do to someone you aren't intimate with! Are all humans this insensitive?" she exclaimed.

"Uhh… Lycia, I think this is a cultural misunderstanding," offered Erin. "We don't understand the significance of the action."

"Obviously…" said Servillah, who had returned in time to hear the last couple of remarks. "Let me ask, do humans have intimate sensitive areas of their bodies apart from the sexual organs?"

"Intimate as in sexually stimulating?" asked Erin. Servillah and Lycia nodded.

"Well, yeah… like for women usually the breasts are like that," said Marica.

"Okay," said Lycia, "so how would you react if a male who wasn't your partner came up to you and just started rubbing you there."

Marica flashed a glare. "I would kill- oh… OH… OHHH!" she gasped as realization set in.

"So what Fret did to Lycia was the equivalent of that," stated Erin, understanding the significance and Lycia's reaction now.

Lycia nodded. "Touching one of my kind behind the ears is a very intimate action, it is a sensitive spot that often causes arousal. When he rubbed me there and I started purring, I-I…" Lycia faltered, embarrassed by having initially found the touch pleasurable.

"No, it's okay Lycia. I understand now," Marica reassured. "So you were caught off guard by what he did, then got embarrassed by it, and the natural reaction was to get angry and lash out."

"But surely you know now that Fret had no idea of the significance of what he was doing, and that he had no intention of offending you like that?" asked Erin.

"Yes, of course," sighed Lycia. "So how do you think he'll react? Will he forgive me? Servillah, how's he doing anyway?"

"He'll be fine in a day or two, between Erin here and Zahra he got healed quickly," replied Servillah.

Marica nodded to Servillah and smiled at Erin. "Forgive _you_?" chucked Marica to Lycia. "I know Fret, once he knows why you hit him he'll feel bad about what he did and will be asking _you_ to forgive _him_. There's nothing to worry about with him being mad or this affecting anything going forward."

"I'll make sure word gets around that this was a misunderstanding that is over and done with, and there are no hard feelings on either side," added Erin. "We don't want any lingering dissension or questioning of anyone's loyalties."

Servillah and Lycia both smiled. "Thank you for understanding," said Servillah.

"Well, since we've got this all sorted out, I suppose I'll grab some dinner now and go see how the big doofus is doing," smiled Marica.

* * *

Marica walked into Zahra's clinic on the 2nd floor to hear Fret arguing with Eunice and Liu.

"I told you I'll be fine, I just want to sleep in my own bed!" Fret exclaimed in frustration.

"And I'm telling you as a medical professional that you need to spend tonight where we can keep an eye on you!" countered Eunice.

"Fret, why won't you just listen to her?" asked an exasperated Liu. "You had a head injury, is it really such a big deal to stay here overnight?"

"I've just got a headache, it's no big deal. Look, I can get up and move around on my own just fine," Fret replied, standing up to prove his point. He started to take a step but got light-headed and reached over and grasped Liu's shoulder for support.

Eunice shook her head. "I'm sorely tempted to give you a shot to put you to sleep so you'll stop this foolishness."

Standing behind them, Marica cleared her throat to get their attention. Looking at Eunice, she asked "If I stay with him and make sure he rests, can he stay in his own room?"

Liu snickered, causing Marica to glare and icily ask, "Got something to say Liu?"

Seeing the seriousness in Marica's expression, Liu wiped the smile off his face and just shook his head no.

Eunice considered the request. "I'll agree to it since I know I can trust you to be responsible. But other than getting cleaned up he's on strict bed rest for the next 12 hours, and then for the 24 hours following that he's not allowed any strenuous physical activity. It would be best if he didn't get a lot of visitors either for the next couple of days. And if he has any setback you'll promise to bring him back down here immediately?"

Marica nodded in agreement. "Works for me. How about you, Fret? You going to cooperate, or are you going to stay here?"

Fret noted the flat monotone quality of her voice, devoid of emotion. _"Hmmm… it might be safer staying here than being alone with her…"_

As if reading his thoughts, Marica softly said "I-I'm sorry about earlier. We've got some things to talk about… in private." She quickly added, "And unless you have a death wish, Liu, you won't comment on that."

Resisting the urge to make a sarcastic remark, Fret merely nodded and said "That's fine, I'll follow the rules. Can I at least get a shower though before being confined to bed?"

Marica, as she often did, tugged on a strand of hair while thinking. "I've got to get a nightgown and a couple of other things from my room anyway. Liu, take Fret to the showers on the 4th floor so he can get cleaned up. I'll stop by his room and pickup a fresh change of clothes for him, and drop that off with you on my way to my room. Then I'll meet you guys at his room after that."


	13. Confessions

Deciding that Fret was probably hungry and that she wouldn't mind a late night snack since she knew she wasn't getting to sleep at a decent hour after her long nap, Marica detoured by the tavern after dropping some clean clothes for Fret off with Liu. The boys were already done and waiting in Fret's quarters by the time she had gotten back upstairs and changed into a nightgown and robe in her room before meeting them there. Fret, sitting up on the edge of the bed when she walked into the bedroom, perked up when he saw she was carrying a tray of food. He smiled and thanked her, and the three friends talked while he ate.

"I was telling Liu," said Fret between bites, "that we've been wasting too much time running around on all of these side quests. I talked to old Dogha this morning and found out the trick to dealing with the snow fairy, so Liu is going to have Jale lead a team back out to the Ch'olui Mountains and finish that one up. Also, I was told that idiot Icas started causing problems for the women here right after I agreed to let him stay. Jale had a great idea to send him off on a long mission into the infinity, so not only are we going to do that, we're going to send Maybelle and Morrin with him. That should get all of them out of our hair for quite a while."

Marica smirked. "Chrodechild, Erin, and I came up here this morning when Jale and Maybelle were in here with you. We were actually here to not so politely tell you it would be in your best interests to get rid of Icas before his presence caused you bodily harm. But then Maybelle happened, and before I got to say anything about Icas you went and got yourself beaten up by one of the women anyway."

"Uhhh… I don't think that was about Icas," said Liu.

Marica rolled her eyes. "Of course it wasn't, Liu, that was a joke. Speaking of that, did you guys find out why Lycia used your head for punching practice?"

"Sort of," Liu replied. "Servillah had come up to check on Fret, and from what she said it had something to do with the Furious Roar being real sensitive on top of their heads. I wasn't real sure, I mean it didn't sound like he hurt her or anything."

"Good grief, Liu, no wonder you've never figured out that Len-Lien is in love with you. You're clueless when it comes to women!"

Fret subconsciously put a hand on the hurt part of his head while he thought. "It's more than just sensitive, Liu," he said. "It's in what way it is sensitive, like it's a sensual type of thing. So what I did wasn't painful to her, it was offensive. Like walking up to a girl you barely know and kissing her or something."

"I'm actually impressed, that's pretty close," Marica smirked. "Except instead of a kiss, you reached inside her shirt and started caressing her breasts."

The eyes of both boys opened wide in shock. "W-wow, Fret… you should've at least been going with her for awhile before you made a move like that," chuckled Liu. "I'm not sure that human and feline are anatomically compatible though buddy, you might have to rethink those long-term relationship plans."

"Liu, if I could stand up without getting dizzy I'd smack you," laughed Fret. The three friends laughed together about the situation.

A few minutes later, Liu said, "Well, I'd probably better go so you can rest. You guys know where to find me if you need anything, but I'll bet Marica won't have any problems keeping you in line."

"Hey, Liu," said Fret. "I'm out of commission for a couple of days, but I want you to go ahead and start getting plans together to recover the four Chronicles that the Order stole. We need some ideas on scouting missions to try to figure out where they're being kept and under what kind of defenses. I don't doubt we'll have to go through the Auster Folk again, though it'd be nice if we could convince them they're fighting for the wrong side. Anyway, I also didn't get a chance to have Moana catch me up on the status of all our jobs, so I'd appreciate it if you'd let her know that I'll want that info when I come down for breakfast or lunch. I've been thinking about this for a few days, and I'd like us to wrap up anything we've committed to in the next two weeks if possible. And we're not taking on any new missions that can't be completed in that timeframe, unless they are ones that can be completed by people that wouldn't be much help in a battle. The exception to that is Jale taking a team to finish up the snow fairy job. Something tells me that the snow fairy is a Starbearer from how she attacked us, so I want to send someone I really trust to see about recruiting her."

Liu nodded. "Got it, I'll pull together the leaders of the different groups here tomorrow and start on plans for going after the Chronicles, and get Moana to put together a status report. Later guys…"

* * *

An hour or so passed with Marica and Fret making small talk, but not having gotten around to broaching the more serious topics. Marica was getting somewhat anxious to talk about a couple of things, with their relationship being at the top of the list. But she could tell he was starting to get sleepy, so she decided to hold the topic for later.

"Hey, sleepyhead," she smiled. "I think it's time you turned in. It's starting to get late, and doctor's orders were for you to rest."

"Yeah, yeah… Ummm… hey, Marica?"

Marica cocked her head to the side quizzically at the sudden change in tone. "Yeah?"

"Uhhh… it's pretty muggy tonight. Do you mind if I uhhh, sleep without my shirt on?"

Marica grinned at him. "Silly, I've seen you plenty of times without a shirt on! Of course it's fine."

As Fret sat up and pulled his shirt off, Marica's heart raced when she noticed how defined his muscles were. _"Oh, my… when did he get so… wow…" _she began to ask herself.

"Marica?" asked Fret softly. "Something wrong?"

She realized that she had been staring at him and he'd noticed it. "Uhhh… s-sorry, no- nothing's wrong," she stammered while blushing slightly. "It-it's j-just that I guess I haven't seen you shirtless in awhile and I can't believe how muscular you've gotten. I mean, your abs and arms and chest are just ripped!" she giggled.

Fret laughed. "I suppose that's at least something good that's come from all the seasons of fighting we've been through so far."

Grinning at him, Marica stood and took the shirt he had shed and placed it on the dresser. With her back still to him, she removed her robe and laid it on the dresser as well, revealing a sleeveless low cut white nightgown that only came down to mid thigh. Gone were the leggings and full arm sleeves she normally wore with her outfits, in their place was just soft smooth alabaster skin. She heard a short gasp from behind her that turned into a cough. "Fret? Are you okay?" she asked in concern, spinning around. He didn't reply, so she asked him again what was wrong. "Fret?"

"Uhhh… sorry… it's nothing…"

"Nothing, eh?" she questioned. "I don't believe you… tell me what's wrong, is your head hurting?"

"Uhhh… wow… promise you won't hit me?" asked Fret shyly.

She frowned. "Why do you ask that? Are you about to say something that will get you hit?"

Fret idly scratched the back of his head in nervousness. "Marica…" he whispered. "You are stunning. I-I mean, I've… I-I've thought you were g-gorgeous for awhile anyway, but seeing you like this is… wow." He stared down at the floor to avert her gaze.

Marica felt her cheeks burning as she blushed hard. Gulping, she walked over and sat by him and whispered, "Now why would I hit you for saying something so sweet?"

"I-I… I guess I was worried it would make you uncomfortable around me if you knew I saw you that way."

"What way is it that you see me?" she asked softly, beginning to feel the weight of guilt pressing down for where she was leading the conversation.

Fret paused, collecting his thoughts. He realized he was about to say the words that would change their relationship forever, for better or worse. "Marica…" he began, taking a deep breath.

Realizing that he'd taken the bait, the guilt of having eavesdropped on him telling Jale crashed down on her, and tears streamed from her eyes as she started to sob. Fret couldn't have been more confused at the moment, having no idea what triggered this reaction since he hadn't even said anything. Not knowing what else to do, he put his arm around her to pull her close, and asked what was wrong.

Marica pushed his arm away and stood up, fighting to get back in control of her emotions. As she stood with her back to him, she hoarsely whispered, "D-don't…"

"Don't _what_ Marica? I don't understand, I hadn't-"

"Stop," she said between shudders. "I-I c-can't let you say it without… without kn-knowing the truth."

Fret frowned. _"Did she suspect what I was going to say and tried to stop me because she doesn't feel the same? Does she love someone else?" _His thoughts were scattered as he tried to expend a large amount of mental energy while nursing a bad headache. For her part, Marica was trying to put together how she was going to tell him that even though it hadn't been the initial intent, she had learned his secret by intentionally violating his privacy.

When a minute passed without either of them speaking, Fret broke the silence by offering, "hey, I-I'm sorry… you don't have to say anything right now, whatever it is obviously hurts you. L-let's just drop it and go on to sleep. You can tell me later if you feel like it…"

Marica turned around to see Fret moving into a lying down position on the bed. "D-don't you dare apologize to me, Fret!" she exclaimed angrily, causing him to flinch in shock. He had no idea that the anger was directed at herself and not him. Seeing his bewildered expression, she folded her arms in front of her chest and continued incredulously, "How can you be so nice to me? I-I'm such a bitch… you deserve better…" she trailed off, beginning to weep again.

Fret was even more confused than before. "You-you've lost me, I don't know what you mean. Does this have something to do with why a couple of times earlier today you looked at me like you hate me?" he asked cautiously. "There's someone else, isn't there?" he whispered.

Marica closed her eyes, unable to stop the tide of fresh tears or the shaking of her body. "H-hate y-you?" she cried. "N-no, Fr-Fret, I-I… I… I l-love you… only you…" Collecting herself as best she could, she added, "an-and I kn-know you love m-me too… b-but I… I should be hearing it for the first time from you telling me… n-not from listening in on a pr-private conversation between you and J-Jale." Marica kept her eyes closed the whole time, not being able to bear Fret's gaze as she confessed.

As she stood there sobbing, she suddenly felt Fret's arms around her, pulling her into an embrace. She buried her face into his chest, soaking his warm skin with her tear streaked face. "I-I'm sooo s-sorry," she whispered hoarsely. "I n-never meant to overhear that…"

"H-how long had you and the others been in the front room?" he asked quietly but firmly.

"L-long en-enough…" Marica then explained how Chrodechild, Erin, and she came to gripe about Icas, and how it ended up with the girls eavesdropping. Fret rested his forehead on the top of Marica's head as he listened, cringing to himself as he both tried to remember what all he and Jale talked about, and tried to deal with hurt of knowing the person he trusted more than anyone else in the world had done something so lacking in respect for him. The hurt he felt was obscuring the revelation that Marica loved him, and he subconsciously let his arms gradually drop, releasing his side of the embrace.

Feeling him let her go only accelerated Marica's rising nervousness over how badly she had messed things up. Not allowing him to pull away, she squeezed him tighter to her and frantically pleaded for him to forgive her. "Marica," he said softly, lifting her chin and looking into her eyes, "I-I'm not going to say that I'm not hurt by what you did. You're the last person in the world I'd ever guess would've done that to me. B-but… I… I think it says a lot that you told me… when it would've been easier to not say anything, since I'd never have found out otherwise." Marica didn't speak, but merely nodded sadly.

"I meant it when I said then, and I mean it now… I love you, Marica." Fret smiled at her, wiping a lingering tear away from her eye with his thumb. She smiled back. "I love you too, Fret."

"Marica?" whispered Fret.

"Yes?"

"M-may I… I… can I… can I k-kiss you?" he asked sheepishly.

Marica couldn't help but laugh at the sweetness of the request, which made Fret blush. "You'd better…" she replied softly, licking her lips in anticipation. Fret gently turned and lifted her head, bringing his lips down to meet hers. The inexperienced teens brushed their lips together, tentatively seeking each other and exploring the new sensations. Gradually they each got more confident, pressing more firmly into each other. After a couple of minutes they separated breathlessly, resting their foreheads together and grinning at each other. "Wow…" whispered Fret, which made Marica giggle and nod in agreement. "That was incredible," she agreed, "but I promised Eunice I'd keep you on bed rest, so you've got to get back to resting."

"Keep me in bed, eh?" winked Fret.

She giggled and smacked him playfully on the arm. "Bed _rest_, silly, with _no_ strenuous physical activity. So get any ideas out of that brain damaged head of yours!"

Fret mock pouted, then grinned. "Okay, better help me over there, I'm a little light headed right now." Marica laughed, but helped him over to the bed and lay down with him. Fret positioned himself on his side with his arm draped over Marica and holding her close, while she lay with her back to him, pressed up against him. Even though Fret fell asleep within about 15 minutes and Marica wasn't sleepy, she was content to lay there in his arms until she fell asleep a couple of hours later. She had been getting tense earlier when Fret and Liu were talking about getting plans in motion to recover the Chronicles, but at the moment that was the furthest thing from her mind.


	14. Betrayal

"Whoa!" exclaimed a loud voice, jarring Marica and Fret from their sleep. Marica opened her eyes to see Jale standing a few feet away, wearing a smirk. "Do I even wanna ask?"

Marica blinked her eyes a few times as she tried to shake the cobwebs of sleep. It took her a moment before she realized where she was and what had happened the night before. Fret groaned in protest of being woken up, and only tightened the grip of his arm around Marica's midsection and pressed the side of his face more firmly against the warm flesh of her back.

"Do you always just let yourself in without knocking?" she yawned, choosing to overlook his smug expression for the moment. "What's up?"

"Fret and I had that talk yesterday. He rarely even closes the door so why bother?"

"Jale?" mumbled Fret from behind Marica. "Ugh… my head is pounding, how early is it anyway?"

"Not _that _early, it's about mid-morning," he replied. "At least not that early for those of us who weren't up late with overnight _company_."

Marica rolled her eyes as she sat up. "Stuff it, Jale."

"Anyway, I came to see how Fret was doing and see if he needed anything, but it looks like he's doing quite alright." Jale grinned at the couple with obvious amusement.

Standing up and pulling her robe on, Marica shook her head and remarked, "I might have to re-think this whole relationship thing, Fret, I don't know how much teasing I'll be able to take before someone dies."

Fret laughed weakly as Marica stood up and walked towards the door. "Jale, I'm gonna have to start taking bets on whether you or Liu gets killed first."

"_Relationship_, eh?"

"Yeah, ya know," smiled Fret, "after you implied I was gay yesterday I figured I had to do _something_." Thumbing his hand in the direction of Marica he continued, "Obviously it didn't work out so well with Lycia, so I had to settle for that one_._"

As Jale roared in laughter, Marica tugged at one of her bangs of hair and mockingly said "on second thought, Maybelle can have you. I'll let her know Ru'akawhatever is all hers."

"Yikes!" laughed Fret, causing Jale to laugh harder. "Well played, you win," he chuckled.

"In all seriousness, you guys are finally together now?" asked Jale.

Marica interrupted, saying "I'm going to get dressed then go downstairs and get us some breakfast while you guys chit-chat. I'll be back in a bit." She left the two boys to their conversation, figuring she'd have her own interrogation to deal with anyway when Erin found out.

* * *

"So did getting cold cocked convince you to say finally say something to her then?" joked Jale.

Fret chuckled, then briefly explained what had happened the night before, carefully leaving out the personal details in the retelling. The two friends made small talk about the new relationship for awhile.

"Sooo…" grinned Jale. "Now you just need to get the other Marica in here and really have some fun. Ya know, two Maricas at once!"

Fret shook his head, laughing. "Dude… don't even tempt me to think thoughts like that. I couldn't handle more than one Marica. I don't think I'd wanna try anyway."

"Good answer!" a voice behind Jale declared sharply.

Jale's head whipped around and he blushed deeply at seeing a fully dressed Marica standing there, unsure of how much she heard. Fret's mouth dropped open in shock as all he could do stare wide-eyed in disbelief. Marica was smirking at the boys until she saw Fret's expression, and immediately realized where his thoughts were going. Her smirk quickly faded and she bit her bottom lip in concern. Holding up her hands in front of her, she sighed and wearily said "I-I wasn't eavesdropping… I just came back on my way downstairs to remind you that Eunice said you have to take it easy for the next couple of days, in case you guys were making plans to go do something."

Fret nodded in response, staring vacantly at the floor. "Gotcha…" he said flatly. "I was going to tell him about the snow fairy mission, but unless something urgent comes up I'm not planning on doing much of anything today."

Marica cringed inside at his physical response, but didn't show an outward reaction. Not wanting to say anything in front of Jale, she simply excused herself to go get breakfast. _"I wonder how long it will be before he trusts me again?" _she thought sadly.

* * *

She was right about getting interrogated by Erin. Marica tried to casually pass off the news while getting breakfast together, but Erin didn't take it casually. She shrieked with glee, startling the other people in the tavern area, and then started excitedly asking one question after another trying to pry all the details out of her friend. It was hard for Erin's enthusiasm not to be contagious, and Marica found her mood brightening considerably from what it had been when she left Fret's room. She filled Erin in on the details, including admitting to Erin that she confessed about how they eavesdropped and overheard him tell Jale. Erin nodded sympathetically as Marica told her how Fret reacted, knowing how hard it must have been for her to tell him. Even though Marica questioned whether there would be a lingering trust issue, Erin was pretty sure that it would be quickly forgotten about. Fret didn't strike her as the type to tell someone things were okay if they weren't, and Marica said he'd told her they were okay after her confession. In fact, in the time she had known him, Erin had grown to admire his way of saying whatever was on his mind. Sometimes it was annoying and sometimes it was inappropriate, but he left little doubt as to where you stood with him or where he stood on things.

Still giddy, Erin shooed Marica to go back upstairs to be with "her man," causing both friends to giggle as Marica left the tavern with a tray of food and drinks. Passing by Moana before getting into the lift, Marica briefly filled her in on things when Moana asked about Erin shrieking loudly a little while earlier. Moana was equally excited, and as she got on the lift Marica laughed to herself about how fast the word would spread now that Moana knew. She guessed by nightfall everyone in the castle would know about her and Fret.

After the lengthy ride up the lift, Marica stepped back into Fret's room and called out "I'm back!" as she passed through the doorway. She shook her head and sighed to herself as she realized until what happened the day before she wouldn't have bothered to announce her presence. When she entered the bedroom, Fret was still answering questions about his and her new relationship.

"Sheesh!" Marica exclaimed. "And guys say that _girls_ are bad about gossiping about relationships! I managed to go downstairs, get breakfast, talk to Erin _and_ Moana separately, and ride that pokey lift back up here, and you're still carrying on?"

"Moana, eh?" mused Fret. "Guess we don't have to worry about telling anyone else then."

"No kidding…" said Jale. "But for your information, Marica, we didn't talk about _you_ the whole time you were gone. We just now came back to it after we finished talking about the snow fairy. I'm going to get a group together and head out tomorrow."

"Really, now?" grinned Marica. "You know, if you're going to try to live your love life vicariously through Fret, I'm gonna have to go and set you up with someone."

Jale looked at Marica somewhat nervously. "Vi-what?"

"Vicariously…. like using his love life as a substitute for your own lack of one," she smirked, causing Fret to laugh while he was trying to eat.

"Whatever dude…" said Jale dismissively. "Like you knew what it meant either."

"No, but I'm more curious as to who she's going to set you up with."

Marica grinned mischievously. "I already played the 'Maybelle' card earlier, so I guess I can't threaten him with that. I can probably come up with an equally _sweet _girl I know, like whiny Manaril."

Jale winced, but he also knew that Marica was just messing with him at this point. So he wasn't worried about her carrying out her threat. "Uhhh… maybe another sweet girl you know, but I think I'll pass on Manaril. She's cute, but then goes and ruins it by talking."

"Oooh… so you _do _have an interest in someone I know?" asked Marica, her eyes gleaming.

Jale shifted uncomfortably at the direction the conversation was going. He considered her a good friend, but these weren't the kinds of things he talked about with her. Marica's sister Sisuca and Fret were about the only ones he'd ever really opened up to, though not even Fret really knew how much Sisuca filled a motherly role for Jale that he didn't get from his own mom. He was just guarded by nature. "_I wonder if Fret and Marica being together means he'll start telling her the private things I tell him?" _"Yeah, well…" he mumbled. "I'd rather not talk about it now."

Sensing his friend wanted the subject of his love life drop, Fret changed the subject back to Jale's upcoming mission. "So anyway, Jale, who do you think you'll take with you to the Ch'olui Mountains?"

Jale rubbed his chin as he pondered it. "You were there recently, any suggestions?"

Fret raised an eyebrow, his first thought being that this was yet another time when he was being expected to needlessly make decisions for others. Jale recognized the expression, and assured him that he wasn't asking for Fret to choose a team for him.

"Well, you've got to get up and down the mountain in a day so you don't want anyone too slow," offered Fret. "but at the same time that stupid mountain is overrun with fiends, so you want to have plenty of offensive firepower."

A sneaky thought crept into the forefront of Marica's consciousness. "You'll want a good healer for the same reason, I suggest you take _Erin_." She smiled as deliberately emphasized Erin's name while carefully watching Jale's face for a reaction.

Jale stiffened noticeably for a moment before catching himself, but the reaction didn't go unnoticed. "Wh-why her specifically?" he asked.

"Just a hunch…" she began, poking him playfully in the chest with her finger, "that for such a long trip you'd want to take your _girlfriend_ with you!"

Jale's face turned bright red as he blushed and began stammering.

"Hey!" exclaimed Fret. "He hadn't even told _me_ who he likes! How'd you find out? Jale, have you been holding out on me?"

"I didn't," she answered smugly. "It was a calculated guess, and judging from his reaction I obviously guessed right."

Jale groaned. "I suppose then there's no use denying it huh?"

"I suppose not," giggled Marica.

"And I _suppose _this is where I threaten you with bodily harm if you tell her?" smirked Jale.

"Whatever," she waved. "Tell her yourself, I have a _hunch _you'll find her quite receptive." Marica winked at him knowingly.

"Really? I mean, seriously? You're not just messing with me again?"

Marica hesitated. "Jale… I really can't say anything more, I probably already said more than I should've. But even if you aren't ready to talk to her like that, I still think she's your best bet for a healer on your mission."

Fret nodded. "Yup, she's the best. Of course, you'll have to deal with the grumpy old men when they find out she's not going to be around the tavern for awhile."

"She does have quite the fan club going down there," agreed Marica. "But they can deal with it."

"Okay, okay, Erin is in," chuckled Jale. "I'm thinking I might go with Meruvis to tank alongside me upfront, and have Luo-Tao and Minen to blast away from the back."

"Solid," agreed Fret. "But if it's alright with you, I'd rather Luo-Tao stayed here. He's got that weird ability to sense Chronicles that will probably be more useful here as we try to figure out where the stolen ones are."

"That makes sense. I'll think about it some more, I've got a few hours before I need to decide for sure."

"Yup, just give your team enough notice to get prepared," noted Marica. "We've got a number of good mages around here though, so you've got plenty of choices. Asad or Hafin would be good, Len-Lien, even Manaril if you can take her whining."

"Well guys, I'm ready for another nap," admitted Fret. "Since you're heading out tomorrow Jale, why don't you hit up Liu and the four of us can have dinner tonight down in the tavern and hang out for awhile."

"Sounds like a plan," replied Jale as he got up to leave. "I'll talk to you guys later then."

* * *

Fret noted that the tavern was in full swing with the dinner crowd as he and Marica sat at a table waiting for Jale and Liu to show up. Before making their way to their own table they had briefly sat down with the crew from the Furious Roar tribe and Fret apologized to Lycia, though she assured him none was necessary and that she was equally sorry for what happened. Fret asked Lycia what an appropriate way would be to show friendly affection, and learned that hugs went over with the Furious Roar just as well as they do with humans. So the two shared a warm embrace, a sign of friendship not only for themselves, but also to make it clear to anyone watching who might be harboring doubts that there were absolutely no problems whatsoever between Fret and the Furious Roar.

Jale strolled into the tavern, spotting his friends and walking over to join them. As he sat down, they asked where Liu was.

"He's got other plans. I asked Len-Lien to be in my group for the mission, and by the time I talked to Liu about dinner he said she'd already asked him to do something just the two of them tonight."

"Wow!" smiled Fret. "Sounds like she's taking the initiative, since he hasn't."

"How about you, Jale," teased Marica. "Gonna show some initiative of your own now?"

"Ugh… do we have to talk about that again?" he replied.

The trio got up and went through the buffet line to get their food, and as they sat back down Erin walked up to the table to say hi and ask if they needed anything. She told Marica and Fret that she was going with Jale's group in the morning, which caused them to smile widely at each other and Jale to struggle to keep himself from blushing. Trying to quickly steer the conversation away from any potential comments about him and Erin, Jale cleared his throat and then began talking about the final decisions on the mission team.

"So, uhh, yeah. Erin is going, and Len-Lien like I was saying earlier. Asad is going as well, it'll be helpful having someone who has been there before. Erin pointed out that on a mission like this requiring diplomacy, it probably isn't the best idea to take a gunslinger with a temper as quick as her trigger fingers. So I asked Buchse instead of Minen. He's just as talented and we won't have to worry about him saying something he shouldn't since he rarely says anything at all."

Fret was a little concerned with the team Jale had picked out, but he didn't want to discourage Jale from taking who he wanted. "You're going to take a beating having three ranged fighters plus yourself, that'll make you the focal point for enemy attacks. Erin will have her work cut out for her keeping you on your feet."

Marica nodded. "Yeah, but you won't have to worry about Buchse screaming at the snow fairy about how much he hates snow, like _someone else_ we know did to provoke her into almost killing us all."

"Yeah yeah, how was I supposed to know she'd blast us with a _spear torrent_ if we didn't answer her dumb 'do you like snow?' question by saying 'I'm full'?"

"So naturally you opted for ridiculing her instead, makes perfect sense," said Jale sarcastically. "Though if you hadn't you might not have ever met your girl Maybelle." Jale winked at Fret mockingly.

"Well, it'll be interesting anyway," offered Erin as Fret glared at Jale. "So what are you guys up to this evening?"

"Oh, not too much really," started Marica.

"Just working on getting Jale to take some _initiative_," replied Fret cryptically.

Erin glanced at Jale, noticing that he had straightened up in his chair and was staring at Fret with a tight lipped expression that seemed to be saying _"shut up or I'll hurt you."_ Marica appeared apprehensive, like she knew what was going on but wasn't sure how to react. When no one spoken and a dozen or so tense seconds had elapsed, Erin finally asked, "initiative?"

Marica looked at Fret and shook her head. "Fret, uhhh…. hey, let's not-"

Sitting back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head, Fret cut her off in mid-sentence as he smirked back at Jale, and without even looking at Erin said "You wanna tell her what it's about Jale?"

"No," he stated flatly.

"Fine," said Fret dismissively. "I guess you'll tell Erin you're in love with her when you get good and ready to, eh?"

At that remark, Marica gasped in disbelief that Fret pulled that on Jale, and Jale's mouth dropped open in shock before he turned beet red in embarrassment. Erin's heart fluttered at the revelation, but seeing Jale's reaction she also felt bad for him being put in this position and felt her anger rising at Fret.

For his part, Fret sat there with a smug expression and mockingly asked "oh, did I say that out loud?" like it was unintentional.

"Fret! That was a really lousy thing to do!" whispered a seething Erin hoarsely, struggling to keep her voice low enough not to be heard beyond the four of them.

"What?" he shrugged as he feigned ignorance. Jale was a wreck, he was speechless and all he wanted was for a hole to open in the floor right then and swallow him up. Erin placed her hand on Jale's shoulder and gave it a small squeeze of reassurance.

"It wasn't your place to say anything!" hissed Marica, who was just as frustrated with him as Erin. "How could you stand in front of me last night telling me how bad betrayal hurt and then turn around and do it to him not even a day later?" She scowled at him in disgust.

Fret opened his mouth to defend himself, then shut it without speaking as realization set in. "Oh…" he mumbled contritely. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Marica stood up and said "I'm sorry, Erin, I know you would've wanted to hear it straight from Jale's mouth. And Jale, I'm truly sorry that my teasing you earlier led to this. I never intended this to happen." Shaking her head again at Fret, she muttered something under her breath that he didn't catch but knew wasn't good, and turned and left the tavern to go upstairs.

"I…" began Fret, pausing as he tried to collect his thoughts.

"Get out," demanded Jale, his voice wavering as he visibly shook.

"Jale…"

"I. Said. Get. Out!" Jale kept his voice low, but really wanted to scream at and beat the hell out of Fret. The only thing holding him back was the fear of drawing even more unwanted attention. But the thin thread of self-control he was clinging to was fraying rapidly, and one way or another he needed to be away from Fret immediately.

"Fret," warned Erin harshly. "Leave."

He nodded in resignation at Jale and Erin, stuttering out "s-sorry" quietly as he got up and left, leaving the two alone together. Not wanting to face Marica either, he hung a right after exiting the tavern, continuing out the main entrance of the castle to get some fresh air rather than going upstairs. After Fret's departure, Erin scooted a chair over next to Jale and slid down into it. Taking a deep breath, she took his hand in hers as she rested her forehead on the outside of his upper arm.

"Jale…" she whispered. "Talk to me…"

Jale shuddered as he took in and let out a deep breath of his own. "I guess you know how I feel about you now," he said softly. "If y-you'd rather not come on the m-mission now I'll understand. I-I know you're mad. I… I didn't m-mean for… for…" he mumbled.

Erin lifted her head up and stared into Jale's deep blue eyes, feeling her own gray eyes watering as she felt the pain and longing in his gaze. "Shhhh…" she whispered. "I _am_ mad, but _not_ at you. And I'm not mad at Fret because your feelings are unwelcome." Smiling slightly, she continued, "on the contrary, that part makes me extremely happy. I'm angry at that jackass because what he did was wrong on so many levels. I know he meant well, but he stole something special from you – from both of us really - that can't be given back. And seeing you like this makes me hurt for you." She paused, then added, "and people who hurt you piss me off…"

Jale's heart rate was still much higher than normal, but it was slowly coming back down and he was no longer hyperventilating as Erin talked him down off the ledge so to speak. He gave her a shy smile. "Thanks…" He trailed off like he wanted to say something more, so Erin waited patiently for him to continue.

"Erin!" a loud voice called over to the table from across the room. "Could use some help here!" Erin and Jale looked over to see her dad Logan, who was yelling to her. Erin sighed, resigned to having to get back to work even though she didn't want to.

"I guess I have to get back to it," she said. "I'd ask if you wanted to talk more later tonight, but I'm going to be responsible and insist you get a good night's sleep since we've got a long trip ahead of us starting tomorrow."

Jale smiled sheepishly. "I'm glad you didn't get scared off," he admitted.

Erin leaned over and quickly kissed him on the cheek before standing up. Grinning at Jale's lopsided smile, she replied, "Not a chance. If it still isn't clear, I care for you too. I wish I didn't have to work now, but I gotta help dad out. You know, I was already looking forward to being with you on the mission, now I can hardly wait."

Beaming in happiness, Jale simply replied "me either," as he smiled from ear to ear.

* * *

It was rare that he was up and outside at the time to see it, but as Fret sat leaning back against a wall in the courtyard containing the castle's gateway portal, he couldn't help but admire the beauty of the sun rising on the horizon. It hadn't been his intention, but he had sat out there all night. He had gone back inside about an hour after the incident at dinner to use the bathroom, and as he was coming back out he made a point of telling Moana that he was going to be out front but if anyone was looking for him to tell them he wanted to be left alone for awhile. He figured that would at least ensure he didn't ripped for "disappearing without telling anyone" if something serious came up, and hopefully Moana would run interference if someone wanted him for something non-urgent. Hotupa, the keeper/operator of the castle gateway, had tried to chat him up when he had first gone outside. Fret was silently glad that the Wanderer took the hint that he wasn't in the mood to talk and let him be, and that no one else came looking for him. He just wasn't in the mood for company.

He had spent a lot of time thinking about what happened – more accurately, what _he did_. Fret harbored no delusions that there were any excuses for his actions. In hindsight he couldn't believe it himself that he'd crossed the line like that. As the night wore on his thoughts and emotions mostly alternated between frustration and disappointment with himself, worry and fear that his close bond of trust with Jale was irreparably broken, and wondering how things went between Jale and Erin after he was _dismissed_ from the tavern. After the sun finished coming up, Fret rested his head back on the wall and closed his eyes. Cycling back through his troubled thoughts once again, until the chatter and noise of several people approaching drew his attention.

Fret gulped, his mouth suddenly dry. It hadn't even dawned on him that Jale would be taking his team through the gateway portal to Pharamond as a shortcut, the same one they used coming back. Jale had noticed Fret right away, and frowned at seeing him there. Fret wasn't sure if Jale was ready to talk to him, but knowing it would be awhile before he'd see him again he thought he needed to try. Standing up and brushing himself off while keenly aware of his stiff body, he tentatively approached the group.

"Hey, Jale…" began Fret as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Got a minute before you head out?"

Trying to keep his tone neutral, Jale replied "Nope. We're kinda busy here."

Fret nodded solemnly, sighing as he looked down at the ground. "I see…" He didn't know what else to say, but didn't start walking off either.

Jale turned his back on Fret towards the rest of his team and Hotupa, and said "unless our _leader_ has any mission specific words of _wisdom _to add, we're ready for you to open the gateway."

Erin frowned. It didn't at all surprise her that Jale was still mad, but knowing how close he and Fret were and that they were about to be gone for at least a couple of weeks, she didn't like the idea that this issue would be lingering for that long. Sure she had also been angry, but she knew Fret regretted what he did and wanted to apologize, and that she'd accept it and move on. She expected Jale to do the same.

When there was no response but awkward silence, Jale spoke up. "Alright then, go ahead and open the gateway and we'll be on our way."

Erin put her hand on Jale's shoulder and leaned close to him. "Give him a chance to apologize…" she whispered so only he could hear.

Jale shook his head. "I'm sorry, I'm _not_ dealing with him right now. He's just going to have to wait until we get back." He didn't bother to keep his voice down, letting everyone around them hear what he said.

"I strongly disagree with that," she whispered, again keeping her words only for his ears. "But it's your choice."

Jale nodded. "Alright guys, let's go."

As the group stepped up to the gateway and it was clear they were going through in the next few seconds, Fret blurted out, "Hey, Erin?"

"Yes?"

"Take good care of him."

Erin nodded and a slight smile formed at the corners of her lips. "I will."

With that, Jale, Erin, Asad, Buchse, and Len-Lien entered the gateway and left. Fret went back inside, and after grabbing some breakfast from the tavern he went up to the second floor common room above the tavern and plopped down on a couch to eat. He didn't make it more than halfway through his meal before stress and fatigue caught up with him and he set it aside and dozed off. Despite the bustle and clatter of the breakfast crowd, and people coming and going through the tavern below and the inn/2nd floor residence, he quickly fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

There are generally three types of sleepers. One type is the kind that wakes up at the slightest disturbance of their sleep environment, and is almost immediately alert. A second type sleeps through casual noise levels and touch, requiring more effort to wake but still becoming alert fairly quickly after being woken up. The third type can seemingly sleep through natural disasters, and even after being woken up usually remain out of it for a brief time. In other words, the body woke up before the brain does. Fret was a combination of the second and third types. He could be woken without much effort, but alertness and awareness tended to lag behind consciousness by several seconds. It tended to be worse when routine was broken and he didn't go to sleep in his usual place.

Fret woke up to the feeling of weight pressing down on him. With his nervous system trying to coax awareness into his brain, he didn't open his eyes immediately when consciousness returned. But as his senses slowly regained alertness, he recognized a familiar scent of lavender and orchids wafting into his nose. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking a couple of times to clear his vision before the source of the weight upon him came into focus.

Marica was laying perched on him, her arms crossed over his chest and her head propped up by her chin resting between a wrist and forearm. The form of her body ran down his, with her legs on top of his. Her knees were bent and she had crossed her legs at the ankles such that her feet dangled casually in the air above her backside. In this position, Fret under her was supporting the entire weight of her body, and her face was just inches away from his. One might think that she was implying some sort of control over him by doing this, but that was the furthest thing from her mind.

She felt the muscles in his chest and stomach under her tense when he saw her there. His reaction left no doubt to her that he was apprehensive about what she was going to say. For Marica, reading him was hardly akin to unlocking the mysteries of a Chronicle, the difficulty was more on par with the picture books used to teach kids how to read.

"Hey, sleepy" she said lovingly.

"Uhhh, hey, Marica," he replied quietly. "You smell good." He tried to force a small smile, but his eyes gave away the truth of his emotions. He couldn't know that she already knew pretty much everything that had happened and that she was there to comfort him, not scold him.

She flashed a disarmingly beautiful smile. "Guess you had a late night huh?" she asked. "I noticed you never made it to bed."

"Ohh… uhhh… w-were you waiting on me?"

Marica chuckled softly. "Nah, to say the least I wasn't real thrilled with you last night. I didn't go to your room at all. This morning I dropped by though, and saw that you weren't there and the bed was still made from when I did it yesterday. I know _you_ don't make the bed after getting up." She tapped him on the chin playfully with a finger as she spoke, then took her hand and gently stroked his cheek and jaw line. Her voice took on an equally gentle and concerned tone as she continued.

"I talked to Moana, and then to Hotupa after that. Hotupa told me what happened this morning at the gateway." Seeing the hurt in his eyes, she asked, "Wanna talk about it?"

Fret sighed, wrapping his arms around Marica in a firm but gentle hug. "Jale is still pretty hacked off at me. Can't say I blame him though." He explained how he hadn't even intended to see Jale before he left, that it was purely coincidental that he was out by the gateway. That's just where he'd gone to be relatively alone after being told to leave the tavern. 'Relatively' only in that Hotupa was almost always out there by the gateway too, but Hotupa was polite enough to leave Fret to his thoughts rather than trying to play amateur shrink.

"What did Erin say when Jale blew you off like that in front of everyone?"

"She whispered something to Jale, but I couldn't hear what she said. Whatever it was, Jale's response was to say he wasn't going to deal with me right then. He made sure everyone heard that. Before that he rather sarcastically referred to me as the 'leader' when talking to his team like I wasn't even there. He said they were ready for Hotupa to open the gateway unless I had any 'great words of wisdom about the mission to bestow upon them', or something like that. I think it was pretty obvious to everyone there that Jale was calling me an idiot and telling me to go away."

It was Marica's turn to sigh. "Hotupa mentioned that, but I guess I didn't think it really went like that until just now when you said it as well. I can understand him being mad, but it really wasn't appropriate to challenge your credibility as the leader like that."

"Do _not_ call me that," demanded Fret in a huff.

"Call you what, the leader?"

Fret chided himself. "I'm no leader, I'm just a screw-up who can't keep from doing or saying the wrong thing."

Marica looked at Fret carefully, thinking back to the other part of his private conversation with Jale that she had overheard. "Hey," she whispered playfully, "you may be a screw-up, but you're _my_ screw-up."

Fret chuckled, though with a tone heavily weighed down by sadness.

Marica wiggled forward in Fret's arms until her face was level with his. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to his in a tender kiss. Pulling back, she smiled weakly and said "Fret… I hate to bring up my eavesdropping incident again, but I also heard what you said to Jale about not having asked to be the leader and not even wanting to be the leader."

Fret closed his eyes. "Yeah…"

"Whether it's something you wanted or not, the fact is it happened. You _are_ our leader here whether you want to admit it or not, and telling people not to say it doesn't change what or who you are."

"I-I… I know." He sighed in resignation.

"I don't think any of us realized how much the stress of it was wearing on you though. I mean, I knew you had been more on edge lately, I just thought you were tired since you've been pushing yourself so hard. Being the leader doesn't mean you have to do everything yourself, you know? You've got friends around here that are more than happy to help. You've got _me_, Fret. _I'm_ here for you."

Marica wiped away the tears that were escaping his eyes and sliding down his cheek. "Hey there," she smiled, "I'm supposed to be the emotional one, remember?" She giggled softly, causing Fret to smile.

"Sorry, it-it's all just gotten so overwhelming, like I can't breathe or think straight at times."

Marica nodded, stifling a giggle. Fret raised an eyebrow quizzically, then smiled. "Yeah yeah, I know… not being able to think straight isn't anything new."

That caused Marica to lose her battle with the giggles. "I thought it, but wasn't going to say it this time."

After the giggling settled down, Marica cradled his head with her left hand and pressed her left cheek against Fret's right cheek and whispered, "I love you so much… Don't bear it all alone, please?"

Fret turned his head so that his lips found hers again, and he held her tightly against his body as he kissed her. After breaking the passionate kiss, he whispered "Thanks…"

A couple of minutes went by in silence before Fret said "Marica?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about last night, you know, for what I did to Jale. It wasn't right, and I know it made you mad too."

"After getting past the shock, I think I was more disappointed than anything," she explained. "But I'm not going to beat you up about it. From what I gathered from Moana and Hotupa, I imagine you did enough of that to yourself. And I think after Jale's reaction this morning you don't need me to make you suffer any more than you already are."

"Hey! There you two are!" exclaimed Liu as he came up the stairs, startling Fret and Marica. For his part, Liu didn't try to conceal his amusement at seeing his two friends in the physical position they were in, but the urgency of the situation overrode the urge to make a joke about it.

"Oh! Liu!" said Fret in surprise, but making no move to let go of Marica.

"Come on guys, we have to get to the Grand Hall for a strategy meeting! Luo-Tao said he can sense the Chronicles now and they're approaching our castle!"

Marica gasped. "That means we're going to be under attack!"

"Probably so. Let's go, everyone is waiting on you!"


	15. Old Enemies, New Enemies

"Alright, so to recap…" Liu said to the group of Starbearers gathered in the Grand Hall of Castle Starcache, "Luo-Tao has sensed the location of the four stolen Chronicles and they're getting closer to our castle. It only makes sense that the Order is planning an assault and that they'll be using the Chronicles against us."

"So we need to focus on getting the Chronicles back before that happens," remarked Fret. He was standing facing Liu, the rest of the room behind him.

"Exactly," replied Liu. "Since there are four Chronicles, we need to send four teams out. One to focus on the Porpos-kin Chronicle _Cerulean Flux_, one for _Noble Steel_ that we found in Grayridge, one for the Ritterchild kingdom's _Fierce Regalia_, and one for the _Furious Roar Chronicle_. I suggest that Neira and Nimni lead the first group for _Cerulean Flux_, and Chrodechild and Minen lead a team after _Fierce Regalia._"

"I'll go after _Noble Steel_," declared Logan.

Liu looked at Logan wearily while Fret avoided eye contact altogether. Seeing Fret's reaction, Marica knew that he thought it was a bad idea but he wasn't sure how to handle it without offending Logan.

"What?" asked Logan, irritated when he didn't get a response right away. "You young whippersnappers don't think I'm up to the challenge?"

Fret turned to face Logan. Shaking his head, he replied, "Nah, Dad, I ain't gonna tell someone who's saved my life in battle that they can't handle it. I was just thinking… I wish Jale and Erin were here to go with you."

"For old time's sake?" a voice sarcastically asked from behind them, back by the doorway.

Fret spun around at the sound of the voice. "Jale!" he cried out at seeing his friend. "What happened that you guys came back?"

Asad replied, "After we arrived in Pharamond through the gateway, we spoke with Guntram there. He advised us that they had just received intelligence that a very large Order force was seen departing Fort Arc yesterday morning in the direction of Grayridge. We debated what the purpose of that would be and agreed that Grayridge was probably not their final destination, that they were likely coming here."

Erin nodded. "So we decided to call off the mission and return to the castle. Looks like that was the right decision."

"Definitely!" agreed Fret. "So Jale and Erin are going with dad after _Noble Steel_, and I want Meruvis and Luo-Tao to go with them. Chrodechild, Fredegund, Manaril, and Asad will go after _Fierce Regalia_, with Semias as the support person. For _Cerulean Flux_ it'll be Neira and Nimni along with Roberto and Minen, and Eunice in support. Then for the _Furious Roar_ Chronicle it'll be me, Liu, Servillah, and Lycia, with Gadburg as support."

Marica glared at Fret but held her tongue.

"Alright guys," said Liu. "Let's head out. Starbearers not in the four groups are on standby. Defend the castle if anyone gets through and be prepared to provide backup if necessary."

As the crowd in the Grand Hall dispersed, Marica grabbed Fret by the arm and pulled him aside. Folding her arms across her chest, she simply said "Explain…"

"Explain what?" asked Fret.

Marica just glared at him in response.

"Seriously, Marica, what?"

"Why going into such an important battle I'm sitting on the bench instead of being out there with you."

"I-I…" stuttered Fret. After a brief pause, he continued "I thought the Furious Roar would appreciate being included in recovering their Chronicle, a-and… I thought it made sense to have a more pure mage like Liu since he can hopefully use his Silence Sand mark to keep the Archivists from attacking us with their skills they got from the Chronicles."

"So why not in one of the other groups then?" she asked. She would grudgingly concede his previous point, but she still suspected there was something more going on than he was letting on. "And what about you? Dr. Zahra hasn't even cleared you for combat!"

"Fret! Let's get a move on!" yelled Liu from the doorway.

"Marica, I can't talk about this right now. I have to go." He stepped forward to hug her, sighing when she didn't return the embrace. Letting go of her and stepping back, he told her he loved her and that he'd see her when he got back. Her only response was to emotionlessly say "fine."

* * *

"What the hell is _that_!" screeched Roberto, waving his swords in the direction of a large monster in front of him. The group had run into the Archivist Conon, who then used the _Cerulean Flux_ Chronicle to mutate himself into water dragon.

"Whatever that thing is, it's going to eat bullets all the same," said a determined Minen from behind him while spinning her revolvers in her hands.

"You will face my wrath!" screamed Neira at the Order troops, channeling the voice of the Sea Goddess, Ninulneda. She was lined up behind her fellow Porpos-kin Nimni, wielding her sapphire staff.

"Neira! Minen! Concentrate your firepower on that dragon thing. Nimni! You and me are going to take out the support troops!" yelled Roberto over the growing din of the battle beginning. Nimni nodded at Roberto to his left, gripping his spear tighter as the pair started forward to attack the troops flanking the dragon.

"One World! One Future!" shouted the Order troops as they engaged the Starbearers…

* * *

"Stand alert! We've got company…" stated Meruvis sternly, glancing to Logan on his left and Jale on his right as he unsheathed his twin black blades. Behind him, Luo-Tao drew an arrow from the quiver on his back and readied his Sky-Rend bow to attack. Jale double-checked the grip on his Argent fists, more out of nervous habit than anything else. Logan hoisted the Trident he was carrying off his shoulder into a more offensive stance, while Erin rubbed her hands together as she worked on calming her nerves. She was confident, but that didn't mean that she didn't still get the feeling of butterflies in her stomach before a battle.

"Where's that annoying little brat that leads this ragtag pack of hooligans?" asked the Order Archivist Fergus snidely as he approached the party with a trio of Order conscripts trailing behind him.

Jale shrugged. "Who cares?" he answered flippantly. "Your road ends here, so it doesn't matter anyway."

Erin frowned, shaking her head slightly at Jale's dismissive remark. She wasn't sure if the attitude in his voice was directed at the Archivist or Fret. "We don't have to fight," she called out from the back of the group. "You can simply return the Chronicle to us and go on your way."

Fergus scoffed. "You're in way over your pretty little head, girl. Your chance to end this peacefully came and went when you wouldn't give up the Chronicles after we asked _nicely_. Now it's time for you stop being a nuisance to the Order of the One True Way… _permanently_." Fergus sneered as he said 'permanently', obviously implying that he was intending to kill them.

"Enough rhetoric," chided Meruvis.

"Yeah," interjected Jale. "Put up or shut up."

Fergus laughed maniacally. With a glint of evil in his eyes he began to transform into a giant right in front of everyone. While everyone else stared in wide-eyed shock, Luo-Tao thought to himself that Fergus' own Order troops looked more afraid than the Cherem Company party did. With no one seemingly ready to engage, he took the initiative to kick off the festivities by cutting loose an arrow. His aim was true and it pierced the throat of one of the Order troops beside Giant Fergus, dropping the inattentive soldier into death before he even hit the ground.

As Giant Fergus roared in rage, Meruvis launched himself towards another Order troop. He quickly overwhelmed the less experienced conscript with the speed and precision of his dual bladed attacks, ending the soldier's life after blocking away his sword with his right blade and slashing ¾ of the way through his neck with his left blade.

Jale and Logan moved in tandem towards the remaining Order troop. Jale stunned the soldier with a flurry of punches that he finished off with a spinning crescent kick, and Logan cleaned up with a blunt blow to the soldier's head followed by running the tines of his trident through his stomach. As he returned to his starting position, Logan was a little unnerved that Giant Fergus was still laughing and didn't seem fazed in the slightest that the three troops that had been with him all lay dead around him less than a couple of minutes into the battle.

Giant Fergus began to glow as he gathered magical energy. The Cherem Company party braced itself for the attack it knew was coming, but was still overwhelmed by the sheer ferocity of it. Giant Fergus unleashed a torrential blast that leveled all four party members. Erin quickly healed Jale as the group struggled to catch its breath, since he seemed to have taken the worst of it.

Jale activated his _Two-Way Attack_ mark of the stars and scurried forward to attack the Giant Fergus. _Two-Way Attack _is a very violent attack that inflicts an exceptional amount of damage. However, the tradeoff is the attacker exerts himself to the point of injuring himself in the process. Jale slammed hard into Giant Fergus, staggering back in dismay as his attack didn't appear to have done much to the mutated Archivist. Logan followed Jale with the same mark of the stars attack, while Luo-Tao cast a _Healing Wave_ on the party. Meruvis executed a _Basic Falcon_ for dealing increased damage without the side effect of injuring himself. As he backed off from his attack, he barked at the team, "Stay on him! Luo-Tao, Erin, keep us healed as much as possible! This one won't go down easy, we will need to grind it out!"

* * *

"Asad, Manaril," declared Chrodechild, seeing the young female Archivist and her warrior companion approaching. "Concentrate your attacks on the mage. Fredegund and I will handle her guard."

"Sister?" asked Fredegund. "Think we should use our _Divine Edge_ unite attack?"

Chrodechild nodded. "Let's do it. Maybe we'll get lucky and end this quickly."

They heard the warrior ask his female companion, "Sophia, are you ready?" She nodded at him in contempt. "Of course, Nova, these fools are no match for me."

Nova rushed forward to attack the party. Chrodechild and Fredegund stood back-to-back while pointing their blades at him before turning to face him. In unison they leapt into the air, executing matching double flips before landing and lashing out with their swords. Magical energy flew forward and ripped into Nova head on. Much to the shock of the two sisters, the attack didn't even cause Nova to flinch. Meanwhile, Manaril and Asad launched attacks at Sophia. Like Chrodechild and Fredegund's attacks, theirs did little damage.

Sophia smirked in smug arrogance at the party, knowing her mage arts were very superior. She waved her hand, casting an ice attack that blasted her enemies while Nova rushed forward and ripped into Chrodechild with an overhand slash she was unable to block. It tore through the links in her armor at the left shoulder, causing her to gasp in pain and drop to her knees.

"Chrodechild!" screamed Asad, ignoring his own pain from Sophia's attack as he threw a _mega medicine_ to the Astrasian princess.

"Th-thanks, Asad!" she choked out before downing the healing potion and feeling her health recover. She smiled briefly at him, then glanced at Fredegund and Manaril before turning her attention back to the enemy. Gripping her twin blades _Flame _and _Flash_, she shouted "For the pride of Astrasia!" as she jumped towards Nova and gracefully swept her blades in a spinning attack. Her blades whistled as they cut through the air, singing their song of heavenly death before shredding Nova. Her attack knocked him back, and he grunted in pain as her blades cut him a dozen times in rapid succession before she back flipped away from any possible counter attack. Before Nova could refocus, Fredegund took Chrodechild's place in attacking him with a series of precise strikes. Meanwhile, Manaril cast her own _Sleep Freeze_ attack at Sophia. The young Order Archivist grimaced at being hit with Manaril's strong attack, but refused to show it.

The battle continued along similar lines, with each side failing to gain much of an advantage as they pressed the attacks. Chrodechild and Fredegund fought Nova to a draw, while Manaril and Sophia were at a stalemate with their magic attacks. Asad was the equalizer, ensuring that his team stayed healed as the battle raged on, even using the occasional revival statue to bring party members back to life.

"It's no use," declared Fredegund. "We can't seem to get the upper hand!"

"We have to keep at it!" exclaimed Chrodechild.

Just then, Fret's group arrived. Not having seen any action to this point, Fret offered to relieve the battle weary Starbearers. Chrodechild reluctantly accepted after Asad encouraged her to fall back long enough to recover some strength and let Fret's group work on wearing the enemy down more in the interim. Nodding to her, Fret, Servillah, and Lycia leaped into the fray while Liu launched a _Silence Sand_ mark of the stars attack at Sophia.

* * *

Chrodechild's group retreated a little ways down the path they had been fighting on. She allowed herself to sit down, leaning up against a large rock. "We should not have left them to fight in our place. That is not the way of the Blades," lamented Chrodechild as she downed a _mystic medicine_ that Asad handed her.

Standing by her side, Asad placed his hand nervously on the princess's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. He wanted to be a comfort to her, but he also didn't want to offend. "Chrodechild," said Asad softly. "There is no shame in accepting reinforcements, particularly when the enemy was obviously being enhanced by some strange mage art not of this world. You guys hit that Nova hard enough to take down any natural warrior."

"Asad is right," agreed Fredegund. "I only know a little of what the Order was doing from my time with them, but I remember General Beardsley discussing with another of his generals how the Archivists tap into the power of the False Chronicles. They're sort of artificial Starbearers, and that girl we were fighting was obviously a very powerful one."

Chrodechild nodded, starting to stand. "Thank you, I-I think that eases my conscious somewhat, but if everyone has recovered I still want to go back. I don't want to leave Lord Fret's group by themselves."

Beginning to walk back down the path towards the fighting, words she had previously heard echoed in her head. _"…hey, Chrodechild, if I may, you should give serious consideration to Asad. That man simply adores you!"_ Chrodechild chuckled slightly to herself at remembering when Erin had told her. Hearing her laugh, Asad turned and looked at Chrodechild quizzically. Realizing she had been staring at him, Chrodechild blushed slightly as she smiled at Asad. "Sorry, it is nothing," she quickly said, composing herself. "Let's go…"

As Chrodechild and company returned to the battle, they immediately noticed that Fret's group appeared to be suffering much like their own had previously. "Let's help them out!" she yelled as she unsheathed her blades and rushed forward.

"Wait!" shouted Manaril, causing everyone to stop and turn to look at her. "I've got this…" she said quietly but firmly. Manaril calmly walked forward towards Nova and Sophia, past Chrodechild, Fredegund, and Asad, and then past Liu and right through the middle of Fret's formation between Servillah and Lycia. As the flaxen haired mage walked she began to chant, gradually getting louder as she got closer. Finally, with grandiose flare she waved her hands and Sophia began to glow and scream as she writhed in pain.

"What's happening!" exclaimed Fret.

Sophia collapsed on the ground, passed out unconscious. "Sophia! NO!" screamed Nova, running to her side.

Manaril dropped to her knees, panting for breath. "I-I d-drew the Chronicle out of her, she c-can't use it any-anymore."

Nova scooped up Sophia and fled, and when the group of Starbearers turned to look they noticed that the _Fierce Regalia_ Chronicle was lying on the ground where Sophia had fallen. Liu went and picked it up while Fret helped Manaril up and steadied her against his side.

"Well, that was ugly… but at least we got the Chronicle back," commented Liu.

Asad nodded before suggesting "Let's head back to the castle and see how the other groups fared."

No one responded verbally, but the entire group began slowly walking back towards Castle Starcache.

* * *

The Starbearers regrouped back inside the castle in the Grand Hall. The different groups reported in, and while the fighting had been arduous, it had been very successful. They had recovered 3 of the 4 stolen Chronicles, but the 4th wasn't yet in sight. Liu discussed strategy with Luo-Tao while Dr. Zahra and Eunice healed the wounded from the battles. The other Starbearers gathered in the room excitedly discussed the victories that the company had achieved. Fret mingled throughout the crowd making small talk, but mostly looking for Marica and getting increasingly irritated that he couldn't find her. Finally he tracked down Moana and asked her if she'd seen Marica.

"Why yes, dear, she left shortly before the fighting on another mission."

"Wh-what? Another mission? To where?" asked Fret incredulously.

"She wanted to help hunt renegades in another world like the other Marica does here, so I took her to see the guru Wahie in the gateway corridor and he connected her to another world in the Infinity."

"Grrrr…." grunted Fret in frustration. "When is she supposed to be back?"

"Probably no more than 2 or 3 days I'd guess. Relax, dear, you're going to make yourself sick with all that stress! She'll be fine!"

"It's not that, Moana. I don't get why she'd just take off like that when I need her here!"

"I don't know, maybe she felt like she wasn't needed?"

"Why would she think that?" asked Fret.

Moana shrugged. "Guess you'll have to ask her when she gets back."

Hotupa came racing into the Grand Hall. "We've got more Order troops approaching the castle! Fret! It looks like that friend of yours from Citro Village."

"Dirk?" exclaimed Fret.

"Yes, I think so," replied Hotupa.

"My team! Let's go, now!" shouted Fret as he took off running out the door.

* * *

"Dirk! What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious, Fret? I'm here to convince you to accept the principles of the Order," replied Dirk with a sarcastic smirk.

"Dirk! Stop being stupid. You can't believe in some predetermined future just because you got mad at us for seeing something in that book while you didn't!"

"You don't need those fake skills! I'll teach you legitimate swordsmanship!"

"Dirk…"

"But nevertheless, it seems that I have some special skills of my own now!" grinned Dirk maniacally. "Chancellor Valfred gave me the power of the _Furious Roar_ False Chronicle!"

"Wh-what!" asked Fret in wide-eyed disbelief.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" laughed Dirk as he began to transform into a pink demon beast. "And Lord Valfred promised a promotion to full Archivist after defeating you!"

"Damn!" shouted Fret. "Don't do this Dirk!"

"Fret!" exclaimed Servillah. "We have no choice, we must attack this… beast."

"Grrrrrrr! Noooooooo!" wailed Fret.

"Get a hold of yourself!" yelled Liu. "I don't want to do this either, but we don't have any other option!"

Servillah and Lycia leapt forward simultaneously, unleashing a flurry of blows from their Argent Fists. Demon Beast Dirk wasn't even fazed by the attack, and countered with a rolling attack that did serious damage as it knocked everyone in the party down. Liu hurriedly threw up a _Defense Canopy_ to protect the party, while Fret covered him with a _Healing Glitter_.

Demon Beast Dirk growled, and cast a _Flame Explosion_ at Fret. The fire attack blew Fret back off his feet, leaving his hands and arms singed from the flames. Fret groaned and grabbed a mega medicine, downing it quickly. Liu cast _Silence Sand_ while Servillah and Lycia activated their own marks of the stars for enhanced physical damage and attacked the beast. Liu's attack succeeded in silencing Demon Beast Dirk, however, the beast responded with another rolling physical attack that hammered all of the party members.

"_No offense, Gadburg, but I really wish you were Erin about now,"_ thought Liu as he looked back at their largely useless support person for the battle. Gadburg's _Spark_ command wasn't going to be of any help in a fight against a strong opponent.

"Fret!" shouted Liu. "You're our strongest fighter, you've got to start attacking!"

"I…" he started, hesitating.

"We're gonna _die_ if you don't!" Liu stated emphatically.

Lycia and Servillah exchanged glances, they knew Liu was right.

"Fret," offered Lycia. "We need you here. I know it hurts you to fight your friend, but like it or not the Order has corrupted him and he's not the same person that you knew."

Fret had started to break down, but quickly recomposed himself. "You guys are right," he admitted. Sighing heavily, he spun his blades absentmindedly to calm his nerves and said "alright, let's do this."

The battle seemed to take forever, but gradually the Cherem Company team wore down Demon Beast Dirk and defeated him. Fret tried one last time to talk to Dirk, but it was no use. Dirk ran off, escaping with the _Furious Roar_ Chronicle as he fled. Servillah gritted her teeth in frustration at not recovering the Chronicle, but sensing the situation she went back inside the castle with Lycia, leaving Liu to console a grief stricken Fret.

"I know it hurts, Fret, he was like an older brother to you," said Liu. "He was a good friend of mine as well."

"Yeah, Liu, I know. It just makes me so mad that those Order weasels brainwashed him like that! You know, until now I always thought we'd be able to get Dirk back. I think it hurts even more realizing that he's too far gone at this point, that he's not coming back."

Liu clamped his hand down on Fret's trembling shoulder, trying to steady his friend who was beginning to sob. "Come on, man, let's go back inside. I think we've all had enough for today."


	16. Unorthodox Apologies

Marica entered the front hall of Castle Starcache, having returned from battling renegades in the Infinity. She still didn't completely understand the concept of monsters that travelled through the gateways in a way that prevented them from being killed by inhabits of the world they arrived in, but she knew it made them very dangerous, and that other worlds in the Infinity could always use the help of people from different worlds since off-worlders were the only ones capable of taking down these renegades. Her counterpart Marica from another world had already helped them out a couple of times in dealing with renegades here, so she was glad to feel useful in helping out a different world than her own. Though Marica knew that while that was technically all true, she had also used the mission as an excuse to get away for a few days because she was frustrated with Fret for leaving her out of the missions to reclaim the stolen Chronicles.

"Marica, dear!" exclaimed Moana happily when she saw the younger girl come through the doorway. "How was the hunting?"

"It was great!" explained Marica. "I ended up in our friend Atrie's world and got to meet his friends, and together we defeated a few renegades."

"Nice! Did you meet any of our company's counterparts in the other world?"

"Not this time," said Marica, shaking her head. "But hopefully I'll get to go back soon, and maybe I will then."

"Well…" said Moana, "before you leave again you might first talk to a certain young man that has been going crazy about you being gone the last few days."

"Hmph."

"Now, dear, I told him not to worry. But he comes by every few hours asking if you're back even though I told him I'd make sure he knew when you got back."

Marica sighed. "Do you know where he is now?"

"He went upstairs earlier, so maybe in his room."

"I'm going to stop by the tavern and see Erin for a few, then I'll go find him," she lied. _"More like I'll put him off until he tracks me down," _she thought."So don't worry about sending someone to tell him."

Moana nodded and smiled. "I know he'll be happy to see you again, he's been a wreck without you."

"Hmph," scoffed Marica, walking off into the tavern.

* * *

After talking to Erin for a couple of hours and catching up on the events of the past few days, Marica slipped by Moana while she was talking to other people and made her way up to the 3rd floor, turning down the hall to the residence area where her personal room was. She felt a little guilty for not going up to Fret's room after Erin told her about how he ended up panicking when he found out he had to go fight Dirk to recover the _Furious Roar_ Chronicle and couldn't find her, and how shaken Fret had apparently been afterwards when Dirk ran off after being defeated. And it sounded like Jale was still giving him the cold shoulder as well. But she was tired, and needed some time to clear her head before talking to him.

"Marica!"

The sound of Fret's voice startled her as she set down her equipment pack and bow upon entering her room. She hadn't anticipated him to be waiting for her here. Taking and releasing a calming breath, she calmly said "Oh, hey. Didn't expect you to be here waiting."

He practically leaped from the chair he was sitting in, rushing forward to wrap his arms around her in a hug. "When I went downstairs a little while ago Moana told me you'd gotten back and that I should wait for you up here because you were busy."

"_Good ol' Moana,"_ thought Marica, _"at least she didn't send him into the tavern after me."_ "Ah…" she replied, pulling away from his embrace. "Well, I'm here. What did you need?" she asked pointedly. She winced slightly to herself at the coldness in her tone, knowing she was being too hard on him but not being able to help herself.

Fret frowned, raising a hand to scratch the back of his head nervously. "What happened? Why'd you run off?"

Marica's eyes narrowed for a moment as she briefly scowled before forcing her expression back to as neutral as possible. "I didn't _'run off'_ as you put it. I obviously wasn't needed here, so I figured I might as well go help someone who did need me. Atrie is a really nice guy by the way, I helped him and his friends take down some renegades in his world."

"Marica…" he said solemnly.

"But hey, it worked out well," she continued. "Since not just anyone can handle renegades."

Fret recoiled inside like he'd been shot. "_Talk about a low blow! It's not my fault I can't use gateways to go to other worlds! She knows damn good and well I'd go in a second if I could, I wanted to go more than anyone when we found our first gateway!"_

On the outside, Fret stood slightly trembling in silence, fighting the urge to cry. He felt like his world was crumbling. His two best friends wanted nothing to do with him, Dirk abandoned him for the Order, and he had no one to lean on for support because his relationship with Liu just wasn't the same as it was with the others when it came to matters of the heart. As smart as Liu was, he was rather clueless when it came to emotions and feelings. For her part, Marica completely missed what she had inferred in her statement about handling renegades, it wasn't how she meant it. In her mind she was just referring to the fact that people from the world that a renegade is found in can't defeat it, that it takes someone from a different world to do it. She didn't realize that Fret took it as a dig against him not being able to go to other worlds like she and the others could, and as a result she misunderstood his silence.

"Anyway," she said, "I'm tired and want to take a nap, so I'd like to be alone now."

Fret started to say something then stopped. With shoulders and head slumped in defeat, he ambled towards the door. As he started to close the door on his way out, Marica half hissed at him, "Why did you _really_ leave me behind? I mean, _really_?"

Fret turned and looked at Marica solemnly. "You know, that's a funny thing," he said quietly, his trembling voice barely more than a whisper. As he continued his voice noticeably wavered as he struggled not to lose control of his emotions. "I left you behind because I was afraid that something bad would happen and I'd lose you. Turned out I lost you anyway…" Marica gulped as the last she saw of him were the tears flowing freely down his cheeks as he pushed the door closed, leaving her in her room alone – just like she had requested. It took every ounce of willpower not to chase after him, but she knew she needed a little more time to organize her thoughts so she could talk to him rationally. He was emotional enough for the both of them at the moment, and she didn't want what needed to be a serious discussion turning into an emotion-charged argument.

* * *

Fret paused outside her door just long enough to get himself under control, then started back down the hall. He was thankful that other than Jale at the end of the hall, no one was around to have to interact with. _"Might as well give Jale another shot," _he sighed to himself.

"Hey, Jale, I talked to Moana earlier and she mentioned a couple of quick jobs close by that we could bang out in a day or two. I thought we'd give those a go while we're figuring out our next course of action against the Order."

Jale shrugged. "That's fine, I'll take a group to handle one while you do the other."

Fret shook his head. "Actually, I want you in my group this time."

Jale frowned. "Sorry, got other stuff to do then."

"Jale, this needs to stop!" exclaimed Fret, exasperated by his friend's behavior and by his already shot nerves.

"Oh? Is that an _order_?" asked Jale sarcastically.

"Fine. If that's what it takes, then yes. Have your ass downstairs and ready to go in 30 minutes." Fret stormed off angrily.

* * *

Fret exited the lift to see most of his crew waiting for him. Standing in the entrance hall being briefed on the job by Moana were Liu, Len-Lien, Buchse, and Erin.

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late. Uhhh… Buchse, what are you doing here buddy? Where's Jale?"

Buchse answered "He asked me to take his place, said he had something else to do today."

Fret fumed, wanting to scream but holding himself back. Instead he simply looked at Erin, silently questioning her about it. Erin recognized the anger in his eyes, even though he was trying to hide it. She shook her head. "I swear, Fret, I know nothing about this. I didn't even know he was supposed to be going. Last I saw him was a few minutes ago heading out towards the north doors."

"He and I are going to have it out!" Fret declared, turning and running in the direction Jale had gone. Erin gasped and took off in pursuit. Liu and Len-Lien followed behind her, leaving a confused Buchse standing there in the entry hall.

* * *

"Jale!" screamed Fret upon seeing his friend standing outside the north entrance to the castle. "What's your problem!"

Jale glared at Fret as if he was sizing him up. "You," he replied coldly. "So go away." Erin and Liu arrived as Jale spoke, with Len-Lien closely behind.

"Damn it, Jale! I've had it with this! How many different ways can I say I'm sorry?"

"I don't want your apology, so save your breath."

Fret got in Jale's face, poking his finger into Jale's chest. "Look, I know what I did was wrong! I get it, I screwed up badly! But I can't go back and change it now! Come on, it's not like it didn't work out for you anyway!" Fret gestured in the direction of Erin.

"I trusted you!" shouted Jale. "I _trusted_ you and you screwed me over!"

"I KNOW! I'm sorry, Jale, alright!"

"NO! It's NOT alright!" Jale yelled. By this time the shouting was drawing an audience from the other Starbearers that had been outside as well as the ones inside the castle who could hear them through open windows. From her window in her third floor room, Marica looked out just in time to scream as Jale's fist crashed into Fret's face, knocking him to the ground. She turned and bolted out the door of her room and down the hall, determined to get downstairs as fast as she could.

Erin also screamed, yelling out Jale's name when he sent Fret sprawling. "Jale! Stop it!" she exclaimed. Liu held her back as she started to move towards him. "No, don't interrupt them." Erin glared angrily at Liu, pushing his arm down that was blocking her but making no further attempt to move forward.

After getting over the initial shock, Fret began to laugh as he spit the blood from his mouth that pooled up from his busted lip. "So that's how ya wanna settle it then?" Standing up, Fret stalked towards Jale, pushing him backwards. "Come on then, let's go!" shouted Fret. "Hit me!"

"Shut. Up!" yelled Jale before delivering a vicious reverse punch to the chin. Even bare fisted the trained martial artist packed quite a punch. Fret was ready this time and didn't get dropped to the ground, but the force of the punch still staggered him backwards.

"That all you got?" quipped Fret walking forward again. "You punch like a girl! Hit me like you mean it!" Jale growled and executed his favorite finishing move, a spinning back fist. The force of the impact split open Fret's right cheek, sending blood flying and Fret reeling. Fret grunted in pain as he caught himself from falling but still went down to the ground on a knee. He was just attempting to stand when he felt the air leave his lungs from a sharp kick to the ribs that flipped him over and left him gasping for breath.

Marica came running out at that time, also panting for breath after having been on the dead run since the beginning of the fight. She screamed at Jale to stop, and at Liu for not breaking it up. Liu shook his head. "No, Marica, they need to do this. Let 'em go."

"Like hell I will!" she yelled, casting a _healing wave_ at Fret, who was struggling to catch his breath.

Fret felt the familiar warmth of healing washing over his body, and was pissed off as a result. Scraping himself off the ground, he hoarsely growled in the direction of Marica and Erin "Don't do that again! Do NOT heal me!" Storming towards Jale, he shoved him back and barked, "Come on, bring it!"

Jale shook his head in disbelief. "What are you trying to prove?"

"Shut up and hit me, show me ya got more than a big bag of nothing!"

Jale snapped Fret's head back with a couple of jabs, then repeated the same spinning back fist as before, with similar results. The blow spun Fret around and opened a fresh cut on the face Marica had healed moments before. Staggering back to his feet, Fret spat blood at Jale as he laughed and asked "Is that why you sent a replacement? Because you hit like a cream puff? Are you embarrassed about me carrying you in battles all the time?"

Jale screamed. "Shut! Up! What the hell is wrong with you?" before unloading a jumping spinning crescent kick that caught Fret square in the side of the head and dropped him like a rock. Fret could feel his consciousness barely holding on, but he knew he needed to keep going. Not for himself, but _for Jale_.

While Fret slowly dragged himself up off the ground, Marica and Erin pleaded for the two boys to stop. Fret smirked at Jale as he wobbled towards him. "A little better, I almost felt that one…"

Jale couldn't believe it. "You aren't even trying to fight back. Why are you doing this! Are you trying to get yourself killed!" He punctuated his point with a roundhouse kick to the side of Fret's left knee that caused it to buckle and give out, and as Fret started to topple Jale threw a follow up roundhouse kick to the side of the head. Fret collapsed, writhing in pain but refusing to give in. He forced himself up on hands and knees, gritting his teeth in pain as he rose up to stand mostly on his good leg.

"What's it matter, Jale? What've I got left? I've lost almost all of my friends, including the girl I love. So beat me down, frankly I don't give a _damn_ if you kill me here or not!" As he shouted the last he gave Jale another shove.

Jale punched Fret in the gut, doubling him over, then followed it up with an elbow to the back of the head that dropped him back to the ground face first. Fret groaned in pain, but began dragging himself to his hands and knees in an attempt to get up. He was vaguely aware that his face was bleeding in new places from where it hit the stone path, as fresh droplets of blood trickled down his cheek and off his chin before landing in small splatter patterns on the ground. "Stay. Down!" growled Jale in frustration, kicking him hard in the ribs to knock him back down, which elicited a sharp gasp from Fret as he landed with a thud.

Jale turned to look at his friends, who were at the front of the crowd watching the "fight." Liu had his arm around Len-Lien and was staring at his feet with a sad expression on his face. Marica was on her knees crying, and Erin was kneeling next to her, trying to comfort her but crying herself. Jale's heart sunk, realizing he was hurting more than just a friend he was mad at. By the time he turned back around to face Fret, his shoulders slumped in resignation as he saw Fret had managed to get back on his feet. Wheezing, Fret agonizingly lurched forward towards Jale.

"Sorry, dude, I don't follow orders any better than you do," he laughed between coughs. "But you knew that, since you and I always competed for who could get in the most trouble growing up."

"Fret…" sighed Jale, exasperated. "I-I… I can't do this anymore. I can't…"

"Why not?" asked Fret, fighting for breath as held his side, highly suspecting cracked ribs.

Jale looked at the sad shape his friend was in and shook his head. "I d-don't know. It… it just doesn't feel right anymore."

"You get all the anger out of your system then? Or do you need to punch and kick me around some more?" chuckled Fret, groaning as the laugh caused the pain in his side to flare.

Jale laughed in disbelief. "So _that's_ what this was all about? You goaded me into beating the hell out of you to get me to feel sorry for you and forgive you?"

"Well… I didn't have any better ideas at this point," admitted Fret. "So did it work at least?"

Sighing, Jale nodded. "You're nuts, dude... But yeah," he added softly, "I suppose it did."

"I really _am_ sorry, man, I'll do anything I can to make up for it."

"I-I know."

"Friends?" asked Fret, holding out his fist to Jale.

"Yeah, man, friends," agreed Jale with another sigh, raising up his own his and bumping it against Fret's. Gesturing in the direction of the girls, Jale jokingly asked loudly enough for them all to hear, "Can I interest you in some healing? I know someone who would be pretty interested in helping you out."

"You sure about that?" grinned Fret. "She might want her own shot at beating me up first." He started to laugh but it turned into a coughing fit and spitting up more blood. He began to go down to one knee in pain, but before his knee hit the ground he felt the warmth of Marica's _healing wave_ coursing through him and his injuries recovering.

"You're darn right I want to pound you, you big dummy!" scowled Marica. "How can you be so stupid to think you lost me?"

"Well… I- hmm… it- it sure seemed that way. I'm sorry."

Marica hugged Fret and buried her face into the crook of his neck. "It's okay," she whispered. "Fresh start?"

"Yeah… I'd like that," he replied wearily, wrapping his arms around her and resting his forehead on top of her head, kissing her as he breathed in the scent of her hair.

"I love you so much, Fret… please don't scare me like that. Just… just d-don't leave me behind again, o-okay?"

Shaking his head from nearby, the Porpos-kin Nimni declared "Humans are so weird!" before heading back into the castle.


	17. Jewelry and a Journey

Gorno looked up from his workbench in Castle Starcache to see the young Cherem Company leader approach. In his typical booming, overbearing voice, the Auster artisan called out, "Master Fret! What brings you by today!"

"Come on, I told you to stop with the whole 'master' bit," answered Fret as he lifted a large satchel he was carrying up on to the counter. _"I wish he'd turn the volume down a few notches as well, dunno why he's gotta yell all the time…" _Opening the satchel, Fret said, "During my adventures I've picked up some gems and stones and such, and was hoping you could make something cool."

Gorno nodded. "Well, let's see what you've got already!" He had seen a lot in his long years, and had worked with plenty of expensive and exotic materials, but he was shocked at the quantity and quality he now saw before him.

"Moonlight stones! Sunlight stones! Iris stones! Uncut rubies, emeralds, topaz, diamonds! Gods! This is unbelievable! Do you realize you've got at least half a million potch worth of stuff here!"

Fret laughed, rubbing his chin with his hand. "So you can make some pretty cool stuff with this then?"

Gorno joined in with his own boisterous laughter. "I'm going to _amaze_ you with what I can do!" he declared. The two settled into a lengthy discussion of what exactly Fret wanted made, concluding with Gorno telling him that he'd have it all ready in 15 days time.

* * *

It had been a few weeks since Cherem Company had recovered 3 of the 4 Chronicles that the Order had previously stolen. Shortly after Jale and Fret had made up, Jale resumed the snow fairy mission to the Ch'olui Mountains that had been aborted earlier. They'd joked about it being the never-ending mission, though hopefully that wouldn't be the case anymore after this attempt. Fret had taken a few days to relax, doing short jobs around the castle such as investigating a mystery where someone had put glue inside a mask the young Starbearer Yovel often wore, causing it to be painfully glued to his skin. That led to having a team led by the Porpos-kin Nimni travel into the Infinity to find and fight a Squidcreeper, a creature from whom sap could be made to dissolve the glue and get the mask off Yovel. Eventually it was discovered that a mischievous Porpos named Numnu was the culprit, though he had tried to frame the lovable young Furious Roar Autar. Apparently Numnu had been jealous of him. Ordinarily Fret would have been annoyed at having to put so much manpower into something so stupid, but this time he didn't mind the distraction from the thoughts weighing heavily on his mind.

While the business with the Order of the One True Way continued to cast a dark cloud over the Starbearers at Cherem Company, Marica had been a shining light piercing that darkness for Fret as of late. Ever since his "fight" with Jale she had been especially sweet and supportive, and in terms of their relationship things couldn't be better. He had somewhat nervously asked her a few days back if she'd "move in" with him to free up her room for others to use, and even though she'd completely seen through that excuse, she happily accepted. She couldn't wait to tell Erin when she and Jale got back with the others from their mission.

The number of Starbearers aligned with Cherem Company had steadily grown, swelling to 80. Fret didn't know how many more were out there in the world, but he was becoming borderline obsessed with finding and recruiting them into Cherem Company. He knew the war against the Order was only going to continue to intensify, and that they could use all the help they could get. However, unlike before he wasn't getting the Company sidetracked to the point of losing track of the big picture goal. That was in large part because he had mostly delegated away the strategic planning operations against the Order to Liu. Fret still had final say in the decision making process, but he trusted Liu completely and Liu had shown himself increasingly capable in the role of strategist. And as several people whose opinions Fret valued had pointed out, Liu's strategic sense and Fret's tactical wizardry made for a very strong combination. So while Fret still felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, he took some solace in not feeling like it was his burden alone anymore.

* * *

Fret was practically bouncing off the walls, barely able to contain his excitement as he entered his room in the castle. It had been a great day already, and seeing Marica stretched out lazily on the bed with the late afternoon sun rays washing over her only increased his anticipation for the evening. Jale's group had returned early in the morning after succeeding not only finishing the "snow fairy" quest, but also in recruiting her. It turned out that her name was Sphiel, and as Fret suspected from their earlier encounter she wasn't just a powerful mage. She was also a Starbearer. While he wouldn't ever say it to anyone, he knew full well that some Starbearers were less useful than others, and that a few Cherem Company members were pretty much useless. He was looking forward to putting Sphiel's devastating ice attacks to work for the Company.

This was also the day that Gorno had Fret's special order ready, and he had just finished up with the master artisan shortly before coming back upstairs. The results had been even more amazing than he expected, and he couldn't wait to see his friends' reactions. He and Marica were meeting Jale, Erin, Liu, and Len-Lien for dinner at sundown, so it wouldn't be too long. Fret chuckled to himself thinking about the conversation with Gorno, especially when it came time to discuss payment. Gorno told him that he'd used about 10,000 potch worth of his own gold and platinum in addition to some of the materials Fret had provided. If it was an ordinary customer he'd have charged 100,000 to cover labor and materials plus standard markup, but since it was Fret he was only going to charge him the 10,000 he was out of pocket. That's when Fret told him that for payment he should just keep the leftover gems and stones he hadn't used. Gorno's eyes had just about bugged out, and at first he refused, saying that there was probably around 300,000 potch worth of Fret's materials left. But eventually he agreed after Fret came up with a compromise to use the remaining materials to make accessories he'd sell at a discount to Cherem Company members. He'd still make a lot more potch that way than what he intended to charge Fret, and also help out the Company as a whole.

Marica smiled warmly at Fret as he laid his satchel on a chair and flopped down on the bed. "What's up with you?" she asked. "You're positively glowing!"

Chuckling, Fret replied, "Nothin' special."

She smiled at him knowingly. "I know that look in your eye, you're lying!"

"Yup!" he laughed, hooking his arm around her lower back and pulling her close.

"But you aren't going to tell me?" asked Marica, mock pouting.

Fret brushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes and kissed her. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, he rubbed his nose against hers and whispered huskily, "oh yeah I'm gonna tell you…" After pausing for dramatic effect, he continued, "in a couple of hours."

Marica smacked him on the shoulder as she gasped in shock, "You are soooo evil!"

He burst out laughing, but promised her it would be worth the wait as he nestled in beside her and prepared to doze off for a bit.

* * *

Fret and Marica awoke to the sound of Logan knocking at the door, letting them know that Moana needed to see Fret because an important looking letter had come in from the Magedom addressed to him. Fret said he'd go down and talk to her, and Marica said she'd get ready for dinner while he was gone.

After getting off the lift at the first floor, Fret and Logan parted ways as the older man returned to the tavern and the younger man walked over to Moana. She gave him a letter from the Mage Lord Danash, which requested Cherem Company's participation in a joint attack on the Order of the One True Way's stronghold at Fort Arc. Fret thought it sounded like a good idea, but advised Moana that he needed to talk it over with Liu and the others before making a decision. He had her catch him up on some other jobs the company had going on before going back upstairs to get ready for dinner himself.

* * *

In the mirror, Marica could see Fret leaning up against the wall between the front room and the bedroom, smiling as he watched her from behind while she brushed her hair. She smiled herself, she loved seeing him dressed up in his sky blue light armor instead of the plain white shirt he was wearing earlier.

Making eye contact with his reflection, she coyly asked "you're smiling, like something you see?"

Fret shrugged playfully. "Yeah, but I can see some room for improvement."

She whipped her head around, preparing to scold him for being rude, when she saw him pull a small box from behind his back. Instead, she raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"Turn back around and close your eyes," he said, walking towards her. Marica smirked, but played along.

Marica felt the back of his hand brush against her neck, pushing her pony tails aside. Next she felt the cool touch of metal against her skin intermingled with Fret's warm breath near her ear, sending shivers coursing through her body as he told her how beautiful she was and how much he loved her. After what seemed like minutes he whispered for her to open her eyes.

She had already figured out that he had placed a necklace on her, but she was still flabbergasted when she opened her eyes and saw it in the mirror. The chain itself had interlocking bands of gold and platinum, leading down to a circular center pendant that featured a yin and yang pattern made from moonlight and sunlight stone respectively. Inside of the moonlight stone section was inlaid a small circle of ruby, and inlaid in the ruby was a script 'M' made of diamond. That was offset by the sunlight stone section, which also had a circle of ruby inlaid. Within the ruby circle was a script 'F' made of emerald. Flanking the center pendant were two smaller crescent shaped pendants, mirrored so that each crescent faced away from the center pendant. Both crescent pendants were made of iris stone with small embedded topaz arrow shapes surrounding the edges, and they were connected to the larger center pendant at the apex of the circular sides of each crescent. The entire necklace was incredibly intricate and detailed, and was stunning without being gaudy. Marica was speechless, turning to Fret and staring wide-eyed into his eyes with her mouth agape.

"So, by that silly expression I guess you like it okay?" he asked, flashing a lopsided grin.

"Wh-where d-did you get this?" she stuttered.

"Oh," he shrugged, "this little trinket? Can't remember where I found it…"

"Fret," she whispered softly. "No more games. Th-this… w-wow…" Shaking her head in slight disbelief, she continued, "this must have cost you a fortune…"

Smiling sheepishly, he pulled out a second, identical necklace. Putting it around his own neck in place of his familiar gold necklace, he answered "not as much as you'd think actually, Gorno really took care of me on this."

"Whoa-" he said suddenly, his expression getting slightly serious.

"What's wrong?" asked Marica.

"The necklace… do you feel any different? I feel… I don't know… not weird, but like… stronger."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I do too! Did Gorno tell you much about these?"

"He said something about some of the stones I gave him having magical properties or some such, but I couldn't really keep up with what he was saying."

Marica ran her fingers over the necklace around Fret's neck. "Let's see, we've got sunlight stone, which improves health. And moonlight stone, which increases magic power. And ruby that boosts physical attack power, some emerald which also improves magic, topaz for better defense… and iris stone that makes you stronger in pretty much all areas. Oh, my… th-these are sooo cool."

"Oooh, and they have our initials, so that must count for something good too!" Fret jested.

She choked up slightly, overwhelmed both by the necklace itself and Fret's thoughtfulness.

"I guess I did alright then?" he asked, lifting her chin with his fingers so he could kiss her. "Okay, so Gorno did the real work, but I came up with most of the design."

After kissing him back she smirked slightly, though the effect was largely lost from the watering eyes that gave away her true thoughts. "You know, Sisuca might end up being right about you after all."

"About me?"

"_Being 'marriage material',"_ she thought to herself as she smiled at him without saying anything else.

Fret laughed. "Well, you'll have to hold whatever that thought is for now. We gotta get going, the others are probably there already." He picked up and handed Marica her cape.

"I don't think I need that to go downstairs to dinner," she said.

"Sure you do!" replied Fret, reaching into his satchel and producing another box. Opening the box to reveal an ornate brooch made of moonlight stone and platinum, he grinned deviously as he continued, "I got this to replace the worn out clip you normally use to fasten your cape, and you won't get to wear it otherwise!"

Marica's jaw dropped as he placed the brooch into her now trembling hands. "I-I d-don't know what to say…"

"You don't need to say anything," Fret whispered softly, and his expression told her that he was sincere. "But we do gotta go."

Marica nodded, putting on her cape and fastening it with her new brooch, and the pair left the room.

* * *

Fret and Marica walked into the castle tavern arm in arm, Fret with his satchel slung over his back on the side of his free arm. The pair noticed their friends were already there sitting at a large table, and walking over they hadn't even sat down before Erin oohed and ahhed over their necklaces and Marica's new brooch. Marica retold what happened to their friends, gushing over Fret as he blushed in embarrassment while Liu and Jale razzed him.

"Come on, guys, you're killing me…" Fret grumbled jokingly.

"Hey, don't blame us, you're the one who had to go and be all sickeningly sweet with the fancy necklaces," said Jale, laughing.

"Oh yeah? So if you had a fancy necklace too you'd be gushing all over me like a girl?" asked Fret sarcastically.

Liu grinned. "Maybe… just don't count on me kissing you like Marica probably did!" Everyone at the table laughed uproariously.

Pulling his satchel out from under the table, Fret reached into it and started pulling packages out and sliding them across the table to his friends – Jale, Erin, Len-Lien, and finally Liu. Though not before winking at Liu and saying "Liu, you only get this if you keep your promise _not_ to kiss me."

His comment brought some light chuckles, but the chatter at the table had died down as each of them began to open their boxes. Marica leaned over and laid her head on Fret's shoulder as the two watched their friends. She hadn't known that Fret had Gorno make stuff for their friends as well, and she was anticipating seeing what they got almost as much as they were.

Jale and Erin were the first to get their matching necklaces out. They shared a similar theme to Fret and Marica's with a central pendant featuring a yin yang pattern and two smaller crescent pendants on the sides. They differed primarily in the materials used. Jale and Erin's had a yin side of sunlight stone for a health bonus and a yang side of sapphire for increased agility and defense. Inside the yin yang pattern were ruby circles with a diamond 'E' and diamond 'J'. The smaller pendants were iris stone for all around benefits, and were surrounded by inlaid topaz arrows like Fret and Marica's.

Liu and Len-Lien's necklaces also kept to the same basic theme, with a yin side of moonlight stone and a yang side of emerald to emphasize the magic benefit. Slightly larger diamond circles than the other necklaces contained ruby script letters -'LS' for Liu's formal name Liu-Shen, and 'LL' for Len-Lien. The smaller pendants were still done in iris stone, but adorned with more moonlight stone instead of topaz.

"Duuuddde…" remarked Jale at last, breaking the silence that had settled over the table of stunned friends. He shook his head again like he couldn't believe what he had.

"So you all gonna just sit there staring at them, or are you gonna put them on?" asked Fret jokingly. "Of course, if you're speechless because you think they're ugly and you don't know how to break it to me, I-"

Erin cut him off in mid-sentence. "You can just shut up about that," she said, smiling warmly. "Jale, will you please help me with this?" She swept her long sandy blonde hair up on top of her head to give Jale better access to her neck.

Jale stood up and moved behind Erin, clasping the necklace for her behind her neck. Liu followed his lead and did the same for Len-Lien. After the girls had theirs on, they returned the favor by getting up and helping the boys with theirs.

"I'm probably risking death at the hands of a certain overprotective girl, but I'm going to do this anyway," said Erin, grinning as she stepped over next to Fret. She then leaned in and gave him a hug and a chaste kiss on the cheek. "This is the nicest thing anyone has ever given me, thank you."

Marica chuckled. "Nah, I think I'll keep you around awhile. If for no other reason than to see what Jale does for you to outdo him," she said, nodding in the direction of Fret. Winking at Jale, she continued "I know he'll want to do something even more special for you."

Jale blushed slightly, causing Fret and Liu to snicker. He made a mental note of what Erin said, not just because he wanted to outdo Fret's gift to his girl, but because he realized he didn't really know a lot about Erin's childhood and he wanted to make a point of finding out more about her life growing up in Grayridge. Clearing his throat, Jale gave a big mock sigh, then said "Alright man, I guess you do deserve this…" With that he quickly rushed forward and wrapped his friend up in a bear hug and gave him a noisy kiss on the cheek, causing everyone at the table to laugh and giggle while Fret shrieked and tried to squirm away.

Letting him go, Jale smirked at his friend and said sarcastically "that's all you get though, don't think this is getting you laid."

Fret shuddered. "Dude! I think you just scarred me for life! You know how much therapy I'm gonna need to get that visual purged from my brain?"

"Hah! At the rate you suffer head injuries, it'll be gone before you know it!" countered Liu. "Besides, that was pretty darn funny, though it sounds like Jale has some explaining to do to Erin about his real feelings!"

"Nah, I'm rather safe in saying I'm only interested in her that way," grinned Jale. "Even got the initials on the necklace to prove it! But it looks like Marica thought it was funny anyway," he said, pointing at the girl who was laughing so hard her face was beet red and she was struggling to breathe. Erin and Len-Lien were still giggling as well. "Sorry man, but at the rate she's going you won't be getting any from her either," Jale jested.

Fret scowled playfully. "Dude, are you kidding me? Elder Rajim would cut my balls off if we did that without being married."

Having mostly caught her breath but still giggling, Marica added "And Sisuca would boil them and serve them up to him for dinner."

The laughter increased as just at that moment Logan brought dinner over to the table. Unbeknownst to the others, Erin had her own surprise of having chef Wustum prepare a special meal just for them. "As far as I know, the subject of the previous discussion is not what we're having now," Erin said, sparking another wave of laughter.

* * *

As the group dug in and ate, Fret brought up the subject of the letter from the Magedom and them wanting Cherem Company to participate in a joint attack against Fort Arc.

"Fort Arc?" asked Liu. "Hmmm… something fishy is going on."

"What makes you say that?" asked Marica.

"I was talking to that scout guy Luvais the other day and he was saying the Order has been steadily withdrawing troops from Fort Arc recently."

"So attacking would be to our advantage, right?" suggested Fret.

Erin looked solemnly at the others. "Hey, you guys think the Order may know something we don't?"

"You mean like at Ladzaa Fortress?" asked Jale.

"Or with the mudslide in Astrasia?" added Marica.

Erin nodded. "Yes, Fort Arc has been the stronghold for their army for awhile now, it seems awfully strange that they'd pull so many soldiers out."

"You may be onto something," agreed Liu. "And if we attack we might be walking into a big natural disaster trap."

"We've gotta warn the Magedom before they send their forces in!" Fret exclaimed.

"Yeah," agreed Liu. "Why don't you take Asad, Mubal, and Manaril and go talk to the Mage Lord?"

Fret looked over at Marica with a questioning expression. She understood what he was asking, and replied "It's okay, I don't have to go. Just don't be gone too long, okay?"

"Alright, I'll have Moana let them know and we'll head out tomorrow," said Fret.

"You might consider taking Chrodechild with you as well," suggested Erin. "I know you don't like being the only melee attacker with a bunch of ranged fighters behind you," she said knowingly, "and I think it'd do her and Asad some good to have some quality time around each other."

"Forget Moana," said Marica, laughing. "Erin is definitely the matchmaking queen of Cherem Company!"

Hours passed as the friends sat around talking and having a good time in each others' company. It was starting to get quite late and everyone was getting tired.

"Since it looks like we're all about ready to call it a night," began Fret, "you guys got time for me to drop one more big surprise on everyone?"

"Just what are you up to now?" asked Marica, looking at him suspiciously.

"Go on man, bring it. Can't imagine it'll top the necklaces though," replied Jale, grinning.

Fret stood up, starting to pace around the table as he collected his thoughts.

"Gonna say something anytime soon?" asked Liu.

"Sorry, was just thinking," replied Fret.

"Okay, I stand corrected," joked Jale. "That _is_ more of a surprise than the necklaces!" Everyone laughed at Fret's expense.

Fret cleared his throat, silencing everyone. "Ahhh, you know what… never mind. I'll save it for another time."

"Awww, come on! Don't be like that!" pouted Marica.

Fret shrugged. "Nah, it's fine. Everyone's tired, let's call it a night."

Marica frowned at him, but didn't press the issue. Everyone said their goodnights, thanking Fret for the necklaces one last time, then went their separate ways.

* * *

The diplomatic mission to El-Qaral had progressed less than a day's journey from Castle Starcache, and the party of Fret, Chrodechild, Asad, Mubal, and Manaril was still making its way eastward through Flesaria Forest. Fret was somewhat lost in thought, while Mubal and Manaril were talking excitedly about seeing her half-brother Shams again. Both were children of the Mage Lord, but Manaril was the daughter of Rizwan, the second empress consort, and Shams was the son of Kureyah, the third empress consort. While politics affected a lot of things in the Magedom, including relationships, Shams was the most important person in the world to Manaril. Mubal had done a lot while working under Rizwan in the Arcane Academy in El-Qaral to traffic messages between the two and arrange the occasional meeting, which had to be done secretly because Rizwan more or less kept Manaril enslaved as a Chronicle Reader and doing Chronicle work almost her entire waking hours. It was Mubal who recognized that Rizwan was sacrificing her daughter's health in order to maintain her own position in the Magedom, and that Manaril didn't have very long to live at the pace she was being worked. So he, along with Shams, orchestrated Manaril's rescue with the help of Cherem Company. Manaril was extremely grateful to have been saved and brought to join Cherem Company at Castle Starcache, but she hadn't seen Shams in many seasons since then and missed him dearly.

Asad was relatively quiet by nature, but was even more pensive than usual. He hadn't been back to El-Qaral since leaving the Magedom to join Cherem Company, and he had mixed emotions about going back. He had no regrets about leaving, but he still had many friends and former soldiers that had reported to him living there, as well as a handful of family members. He wasn't sure how he would be received when he got back. Even though Cherem Company was now officially recognized by the Magedom as an independent neutral entity, there was a period of time before that when they were considered traitors and wanted for treason. Asad knew that not everyone would forget that, and that even with the current status of Cherem Company there would be a lot of people that didn't know the real reasons he and the others had left and wouldn't forgive them. He was strong enough to handle that from most people, but there were still a few people in El-Qaral that he cared deeply for, and he hoped they would understand and not shun him.

Chrodechild was equally quiet as the group of adventurers progressed through the forest. She had initially been resistant in coming on the trip, and had strongly hinted to Fret when he asked her that he should take someone besides her. He personally enjoyed her company and loved fighting alongside her, but if she didn't want to go he didn't have a problem taking someone else. But as an unasked for favor to the "matchmaker," Fret was a little more insistent than he ordinarily would have been in getting her to come along, and she acquiesced. Truthfully there was almost nothing she wouldn't do for him if he asked, she felt like she owed Fret everything even though he was very reluctant to take any credit for freeing the Blades of Night's Veil from the Magedom, liberating Astrasia from the Order of the One True Way, or rescuing her sister Fredegund from the clutches of the Order.

Unlike Asad, Chrodechild didn't have mixed emotions about returning to El-Qaral for the first time since escaping with Cherem Company. She only felt resentment and hatred towards the Mage Lord Danash and the aristocracy of the Magedom. In her heart she knew that whatever the Mage Lord's early intentions were when he took in the Blades after the fall of Pharamond, he had no real intention of starting a campaign against the Order in Pharamond or anywhere else in Astrasia. And by the end he was betraying and coercing her and the Blades to further his own selfish agenda of getting her to marry him. Chrodechild had no other ties to the Magedom, and as far as she was concerned wanted nothing more to do with it. She certainly didn't want to stand before Danash and the first empress consort Shairah in the royal palace in El-Qaral and try to convince them that the attack on Fort Arc was a bad idea. She still had a very bad taste in her mouth from Shairah accusing her and the Blades of treason when they warned her about the similar strange happening at Fort Ladzaa right before it was destroyed by an earthquake, wiping out hundreds of lives of Magedom soldiers.

Chrodechild glanced back at Asad, seeing him lost in thought. It was like he was putting one foot in front of the other and marching forward without being consciously aware of where he was or what he was doing. She sighed, thinking that going back to El-Qaral was probably even harder on him because he actually had personal ties to the Magedom beyond just the Mage Lord. She found herself wondering what he was feeling, and if he was coping okay. Chrodechild knew that people viewed her as having a cold unfeeling personality because of the façade she forced herself to maintain even in the most stressful of times, but inside she was much more emotionally sensitive than people would expect. The consequence of maintaining that air of calm was that she didn't have much practice expressing emotion, so she wasn't very good at it. She liked Asad and wanted to commiserate with him about their situations on this trip, but wasn't sure how to do it. She finally decided to at least offer to listen if he wanted to talk to her about it. However, as she turned around to say something to him, suddenly a white light flashed across the sky.

"Wh-what was that!" exclaimed Fret.

Woken from his stupor, Asad replied "I-I do not know. But it came from the direction of the Magedom."

"D-d-do you th-think it w-was…" started Manaril, beginning to panic.

"A fusion of worlds?" said Mubal, finishing her thought. "It could be, that's the same type of light we saw when the Marsinah Plains appeared and took out half of the Ch'olui Mountains."

"And when Flesaria Forest here first appeared, wiping out a lot of the Citro Plain," added Fret.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" said Chrodechild somberly.

Fret nodded at her. "Me too… Let's go guys! We gotta get to El-Qaral as fast as we can!"


	18. A Week at the Beach

It had been 3 days since the Cherem Company adventurers had seen the eastern sky flash white. The group had made good time because no one really wanted to stop for very long, and after hacking and slashing their way through the wilderness they had reached the Mislato River. On this evening, however, Chrodechild had insisted that they stop and rest overnight. Mubal and Manaril protested heavily, wanting to keep going, but it was mainly because of Manaril that Chrodechild was so insistent. They were all tired, but the girl simply did not have the endurance to maintain the pace they had been keeping, and she was already emotionally frazzled in addition to being physically exhausted. Mubal was also wearing down past the point of being healthy. Even though Fret, Chrodechild, and Asad were holding their own so far, not stopping to rest was having decreasing benefits because the party's walking pace was slowing down due to fatigue. At this point Chrodechild didn't care if the others objected, if no one else would be responsible she'd step up.

Dinner was a quiet affair, with little more than the clinking of eating utensils and the crackling of the fire breaking the silence. Other than the brief argument about stopping to rest, there had been very little conversation that day. With each passing day the tension had continued to rise and each party member became more withdrawn into their own thoughts. After dinner, Fret quietly gathered up the dishes and took them down to the river to wash. With Asad and Mubal gathering more firewood and Manaril laying out the pallets to sleep on, Chrodechild decided to catch up with Fret since it was getting dark and he probably shouldn't be going off by himself out here.

* * *

"Lord Fret!" called Chrodechild as she approached from behind.

He sighed, muttering yet again to himself that he wished she'd drop the whole 'lord' bit, before turning around to see her come up to him. He was already standing ankle deep in the river, hunched over and preparing to wash the dishes in the murky water. Picking up the drying rag he'd left by the equipment pack on the river bank, she offered to help out. After a few silent minutes of Fret washing and passing the dishes to Chrodechild to dry and put back in the pack, he finally asked the question on his mind.

"So… what brought you down here? It's not like this is normally a two person job?"

"True, but it's almost dark and I didn't think it was very safe for you to be off by yourself, out of sight of everyone else. We don't know what all is out here."

"Ahhh…" he replied, suspecting there was more but he wasn't going to push her on it.

After he handed her the last plate, she sighed. "Everyone is upset at me for insisting we stop for the night, aren't they?"

Fret knelt over and placed his hand on Chrodechild's shoulder, who was still kneeling on the river bank, putting the last of the dishes in the pack. "Hey," he said with a smile. "One thing I've learned about being a leader is that the right decision isn't always the most popular decision."

"So you did not agree with it either?" she asked solemnly.

"Maybe not completely at first," he admitted, shrugging. "But I was also too preoccupied to see what you saw. I hadn't even noticed how much of a mess Scholar Guy and the princess are."

"Yes…" agreed Chrodechild. After a pause, she asked "are you upset that I made the decision without asking you first?

Fret chuckled. "No way, you absolutely made the right call. And I'm grateful you did."

"Grateful?" she asked, her voice giving away that she thought it was an odd thing to say.

Fret nodded, sighing. "I know I'm the leader of Cherem Company and all, but we've got lots of great leaders in the Company, like you. Believe it or not, I actually find it really annoying that everyone just defers to me on everything and acts like they can't think for themselves. I mean, I… uhhh… anyway, I just get so frustrated..." he trailed off, the words he was looking for not coming to him. "So yeah, I'm grateful that you recognized what was going on when I didn't, and did what needed to be done. And hey… you should know by now that if I had a problem with it I'd have said something."

Chrodechild smiled, visibly relaxing. As the two started walking back towards camp, Chrodechild decided to pick Fret's brain about one more topic.

"Can I get your advice about something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Well… you are really good at talking to people, on a personal level I mean. And I am… well… not."

"Whatcha mean? Ain't we talking right now?" asked Fret, smirking.

Chrodechild laughed. "I suppose we are. But that is not really what I mean. You are so relaxed around people, from what I heard even when you met the Mage Lord for the first time you spoke to him as if you had been friends your whole life. How do you do that?"

It was Fret's turn to laugh. "Well, don't think being like that is all good. My mouth gets me in trouble a lot." Winking, he added, "sometimes resulting in near death experiences."

Chrodechild chuckled, knowing he was referring to his duel with Roberto many seasons ago. "True, but do you have any suggestions for someone like me that wants to be more, uhhh… 'open', but is not sure how to do it?"

"I don't know it's something I can teach, but I'll tell you a couple things." Grinning, he continued, "Elder Rajim always says I'm missing the part of my brain that is supposed to keep everything I think from spilling out of my mouth."

Chrodechild laughed at that description, causing Fret to join in laughing with her.

"Anyway, I don't think there's a real body part for that, but I think mainly he's just saying I'm more willing to say what I'm thinking than other people are. I've never really thought about why that is, but I guess I don't worry much about who people are, or what they look like, or what their titles are or anything. I mean, like with you. I respect you and like you just because you're you. When I look at you I don't see a beautiful Astrasian princess, or the commander of the Blades of Night's Veil. I just see Chrodechild. So when I talk to you, none of that other stuff matters to me and I don't let it complicate things."

"I think I see," replied Chrodechild. "You see people for _who_ they are, not _what_ they are. So that explains why you act the same whether you are talking to a store clerk or the king of a nation."

"Yep, and that's why I really mean it when I tell you to stop calling me 'lord'," said Fret, grinning at Chrodechild. "Me not calling you 'princess' or 'my lady' or some other formal title isn't me being disrespectful, though I know some people see it like that. That stuff may be part of who you are, but it doesn't define you, if that makes any sense. When it comes right down to it, you're just Chrodechild and I'm just Fret. If people can't respect me on my own merits, adding a title doesn't really change anything."

Smiling, Chrodechild said, "Fair enough, I will try to be less formal in how I address you." After she paused to contemplate his words, she remarked with a tone that indicated she was impressed by what he had said. "That was very philosophical of you. I think many people would be surprised to know you had this side to you."

Fret laughed. "You mean being capable of stringing a thought or two together? For my next trick, I'll demonstrate tying my own shoes!"

Chrodechild blushed. "Forgive me, that is not what I meant. I only-"

Fret waved his hand dismissively as he laughed at her reaction. "Relax, I'm just teasing. I know what you mean. Anyway, I'm not saying it's always easy for me to talk to people. Sometimes it's hard, like when it's about something that can be costly depending on how it goes. I was scared silly to tell Marica I loved her."

Chrodechild frowned slightly. "Well, I am not at the point of wanting to tell someone that yet, but honestly, those kinds of intimate subjects are what I was hoping to get advice on handling. I guess they are not easy for you either then?"

"Asad, eh?" grinned Fret deviously.

"Wh-what? I did not say that!" exclaimed Chrodechild, blushing.

Fret laughed. "I think you just did!"

Chrodechild was silent for a moment as she recomposed herself. "Tell me, how did you do it? Overcome your fear and tell Marica, I mean."

Fret bit his bottom lip, not sure how to respond to the question. Obviously Chrodechild was unaware that he knew the girls had listened in while he told Jale that day in his room. He finally decided to go with the straight truth.

"Well, as it turned out I didn't. As you know, I wasn't aware you guys were listening when I told Jale. I didn't get a chance to tell Marica later before she confessed that she already knew, and how."

Chrodechild gulped and blushed again, suddenly finding her boots very interesting as she stared down towards them in shame. "I-I truly a-am sorry for that. We went up to your room to talk to you about Icas, and before we knew it, well… none of us intended to overhear something like that."

"I wasn't happy that it happened, but I got over it. Anyway, I was starting to tell her when she stopped me, so I guess I _had_ overcome the fear. It wasn't easy, but I think I realized my feelings weren't gonna change and I couldn't hide something like that long-term without driving myself crazy. And I suppose I had at least a suspicion that she liked me too. But honestly what held me back so long wasn't a fear of getting my feelings hurt if she didn't want to be more than friends. I was worried about screwing up our friendship."

"You thought she would stop being friends with you if she knew you cared for her in a way she did not for you?" asked Chrodechild.

"Nah, not that she'd want to stop being friends," he explained. "We've always had the kind of close friendship where we can tell each other anything and everything, no matter how personal. That's what I was risking, her distancing from me emotionally. That would've been just as bad to me."

Chrodechild nodded. "I see. Thank you for telling me this, it gives me some things to think about."

"No problem. For what it's worth, I get the feeling Asad likes you a lot. He used to get pretty pissed off when people would say stuff about the Mage Lord wanting you to be his wife, and I've seen how concerned he is when you take damage in battle. And Chrodechild, I think you should give yourself more credit than you do."

"What do you mean?" she asked, puzzled by what he meant.

"I was there when we rescued Fredegund, I saw how compassionate and caring you were in convincing her to leave the Order. You're not nearly as uptight as you lead people to believe," he said, winking. "You just have to be willing to open yourself up like that to other people as well."

Smiling, Chrodechild said "Lord Fr- I mean, 'Fret', thank you again, for everything."

"See? Pretty soon you'll have the hang of just calling me by name," he jested.

* * *

After Fret and Chrodechild arrived back at the camp, Mubal suggested again that the group forego sleep and continue traveling. Chrodechild grimaced, but before she could say anything, Fret spoke up.

"We're not going anywhere Scholar Guy, so lie down and go to sleep."

Mubal glared at him. "I have a name you know."

"Then find the pallet with _your name_ on it and get comfortable, and stop hassling Chrodechild!" Fret exclaimed, his voice rising.

"The pallets do not have names on them," said Manaril, unclear on Fret's meaning.

"It was a figure of speech," explained Chrodechild, carefully watching Mubal and Fret continue to glare at each other.

"But we're not too tired to travel!" argued Mubal.

"Just where is your head anyway? Because it certainly isn't here!" growled Fret. "What would you have us do, march out into the unknown in the dead of night when we're all exhausted and we can't see much of anything? Torch light only provides so much visibility, you know? You're not going to risk _our_ lives because _you_ think you can keep going!"

Asad snorted as he struggled to contain his laughter, finally giving in and laughing out loud. Everyone looked over at him in bewilderment.

"Did I miss a joke somewhere?" asked Fret, visibly irritated.

Smiling broadly, Asad shook his head. "Not exactly, it is just that I remember someone giving _you_ that exact same speech in the Ch'olui Mountains, almost word for word."

Thinking back on it, Fret smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, she did, didn't she? I guess you'll have to say 'I told you so' on her behalf then."

Continuing to smile, Asad said "Mubal, Manaril, I know you want to get to El-Qaral as fast as possible. All of us do. But this is not a democracy, and you must trust your leaders to make decisions in the best interests of the group. I trust Fret and Chrodechild completely. They are very experienced at this, and if they say we need to stop and rest overnight, then that is what we need to do."

"I-I un-understand," replied Manaril softly, while Mubal sighed in resignation and sat down on his sleep pallet.

"Thank you, Asad," said Chrodechild, smiling sincerely at him.

"It is nothing. I think we are all a little frazzled and the rest will do us good."

"Okay, so that's settled then," remarked Fret. "Chrodechild, I think we should setup a watch. I've been through the Mislato River a number of times and there's always lots of wandering creatures wanting to eat you. And I've still got that bad feeling about what's out there to the east. It's just a matter of how long until we actually run into it."

"Agreed," she replied. "If it is okay with you, I will take the 1st shift. I am tired but not terribly sleepy right now, so I do not mind staying up."

"Works for me. Wake me up in a few hours and I'll relieve you, then Asad will take over for me after that. Asad, if you can't make it until daybreak, get Scholar Guy to take a shift. Otherwise, wake us all up at daybreak and we'll pack up and head out."

Asad, having sat down on a pallet, nodded up at the others. "Very well. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow, so..." Lying down, he added "good night guys…" as he closed his eyes and started working on going to sleep. With Chrodechild keeping the 1st watch, the others followed Asad's lead and quickly fell off to sleep.

* * *

"There they are!" a female voice called out, shattering the eerie silence of the night and waking up the adventurers. It was early morning, shortly before dawn would begin to show itself on the eastern horizon. Asad, the current watch, stood up and grabbed his staff and peered out into the darkness. But it was obvious to him that whoever was approaching could see the party long before he could see them. He quickly roused the others from their slumber. Shaking off the grogginess of sleep, the party scrambled to get their weapons and get into some semblance of a formation as they strained to see who was approaching.

Materializing from the darkness was a sight that caused everyone to sigh with relief and relax – Servillah and Lycia of the Furious Roar.

"Hey! What are you guys doing all the way out here?" asked Fret, puzzled as to what was going on.

Servillah answered. "A white flash was seen in the sky to the east of the castle, and it is suspected that a fusion of worlds took place."

"Yeah, we saw that too," said Fret.

"Since no one was sure where it happened or what was affected," explained Lycia, "there was some concern that your group might have gotten caught in it."

"So we volunteered to hunt, errr… _track_ you down to make sure you all were safe," said Servillah.

"_Hunt_, eh?" chuckled Fret.

"We are Furious Roar, it is what we do," answered Servillah with a slight smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"And no one covers as much ground as fast as Servillah and me!" laughed Lycia. "So we knew we'd catch up with you if you still existed in this world and all."

Chrodechild nodded. "Obviously we haven't come across a fusion yet, but we don't know what to expect as we keep heading east. At this point we're still doing the planned mission, as well as trying to find out what happened."

"We will return to the castle then and let everyone know that we found you, and at least up to the Mislato River everything is still the same," replied Servillah.

"Since we're all up now, I think we'll go ahead and pack up and start the day a little early," said Fret, to the unspoken delight of Mubal and Manaril.

"Is there anything you need to send back with us?" asked Lycia.

Thinking for a moment, Fret nodded, then much to everyone's confusion stepped forward and hugged Lycia, holding her close for an extended moment. Pulling away, he softly said, "If you don't mind, give that to Marica for me when you get back."

Despite the situation the group found itself in, Chrodechild couldn't help but wish to herself that she had someone who was devoted to her the way Fret obviously was to Marica, and that she could be equally devoted to in return.

Lycia laughed uproariously, but promised to do it even though she was sure it would freak out Marica. With that, Servillah and Lycia disappeared west under the remaining veil of darkness while the rest prepared to leave west towards the daylight just beginning to rise.

* * *

Two more days of traveling had passed. The party had followed a path along the banks of the winding Mislato River, passing into the wilderness separating it from the Magedom. Other than the usual random encounters with wandering beasts the journey had continued to be fairly uneventful, and they were only a few days from El-Qaral now. Mubal and Manaril had managed to keep up an almost constant level of chatter, much to the annoyance of Fret. Asad noticed him glance back irritably on several occasions, especially after a couple of times they were so caught up in their conversation that they failed to notice approaching enemies until Fret or Chrodechild yelled at them to pay attention. Sensing Fret was out of patience with them, Asad moved up in the formation to the front row between him and Chrodechild, so he could talk to him while they marched.

"Lord Fret, may I have a moment?" asked Asad.

"Only if you stop calling me 'lord'" grumbled Fret, causing Chrodechild to chuckle. It was still a work in progress for her as well, but she was at least remembering not to use that title about half of the time now.

Ignoring the barb, Asad continued in a lower voice, "I know what it seems like to you is going on back there, and I think it is important for you to know what it really is."

"It's something more than them talking each other's ears off and not paying attention?" asked Fret sarcastically.

Asad nodded. "Princess Manaril is quite distressed over the possibility of a fusion of worlds affecting the Magedom. Truthfully, with her isolated upbringing she is not very emotionally stable or mature, and she is prone to panic attacks. Mubal is doing what he can to keep her distracted from dwelling on the situation and panicking."

Fret frowned. "Scholar Guy is doing that for her? I guess I owe him an apology, I had no idea."

Smiling, Asad suggested, "Maybe just be a little more patient with those two."

Fret nodded. "Understood. Hey, how are you holding up by the way?"

Sighing, Asad replied, "With each passing day that we don't find the world any different, I feel a little more relieved. But at the same time, I feel a little more stress because it increases the likelihood that if a fusion of worlds did take place, it happened inside Magedom territory, possibly even in El-Qaral itself."

Placing her hand gently on Asad's shoulder, Chrodechild softly said, "I know how hard it is to be worried about the safety of your homeland and your friends and family. If you want someone to talk to, I will be glad to listen." She smiled warmly at him, causing him to blush slightly.

"Th-thank you, Chrodechild, that means a lot to me."

Asad and Chrodechild began conversing between battles, and even though they previously knew a bit about each other, as they discussed their pasts they realized that they actually had quite a lot more in common than they would have expected. For his part, Fret was just grateful that they managed to both talk and pay attention to what was going on around them at the same time. Being a rather social guy though, he was feeling somewhat left out now that the other four party members had paired off and were largely ignoring him. But he understood the situations and that it wasn't about him, so he contented himself with his own thoughts of his friends back home. At least, until they emerged on the other side of a thicket of overgrown brush leading up a hill, and saw what stood before them in the valley below. At that point, he broke into a sprint, with the rest of the party trailing behind in close pursuit.

Fret bent over and scooped into his right hand a mound of sand. Letting the grains run through his fingers, he grimly said, "It looks like we found a fusion."

"This time it appears to be a desert world that has been joined to this one," remarked Chrodechild.

"How far do you suspect this desert stretches?" asked Mubal nervously.

Asad sighed. "I do not think any of us can answer that Mubal. From what we have seen with other fusions, the size of the area can vary greatly. Let us hope this is a smaller one."

"It-it's g-gone," whimpered Manaril, beginning to sob.

Everyone looked at her. "Princess?" inquired Mubal, "what is gone?"

"The M-Magedom… El-Qaral… Salsabil… it's all gone," she lamented.

"No way, it can't be! You can't know that," replied Fret angrily, upset at her for assuming the worst.

"Manaril, is this something you know for certain, or a feeling?" asked Chrodechild.

"I… I su-suppose it is a feeling…" admitted Manaril.

"Well enough with the doom and gloom," Fret stated firmly. "We won't know what's going on with El-Qaral until we get there, and it's still a couple of days away."

The adventurers stood at the brink of the desert for several minutes, staring into the vastness of the sand as far as the eye could see. Looking up briefly at the early evening sky, Fret finally spoke up.

"Set up camp. We're stopping here, and we'll tackle the desert in the morning."

"Wh-what?" asked Asad, Mubal, and Manaril incredulously, almost in unison.

"No!" cried Manaril.

"You cannot be serious about stopping now!" declared Mubal, glaring at Fret defiantly.

"I must agree with Mubal here, we have a few hours of daylight left. We should press onward and not let the time go to waste," Asad suggested, almost pleading with the younger man.

"This is not up for negotiation," answered Fret flatly.

"That is not fair!" shouted Mubal emphatically. "Asad, Manaril, Chrodechild… he has no sense of urgency about this, I say we continue on without him if he wants to stay here!"

Chrodechild scowled at Mubal. "I will _not_ take part in your little coup. How dare you even suggest sacrificing Fret?"

Mubal scoffed. "Sacrifice? He can take care of-"

Interrupting him, Chrodechild continued, "Leaving someone alone out here is tantamount to condemning them to death. Say we follow your plan and sacrifice Fret. And then what, you sacrifice me tomorrow when I think we should stop? And then Asad the next day?" The more she ranted, the more disgusted she became at the thought.

"Lady Chrodechild, perhaps you can convince Lord Fret to continue on?" asked Asad hopefully. Fret turned his head towards her, expressionless as he made eye contact with her but burning with rage inside at Mubal's suggestion to just leave him behind.

"I… I am sorry Asad, but I agree with Fret that we should stop here. And even if I did not agree, I would still support his decision. He has earned my benefit of the doubt many times over. I do understand the urgency to get to El-Qaral, especially with what we have found here. But we have no idea what to expect in this desert, we are already worn out, and now we are obviously not thinking clearly. The advantage of getting 3-4 hours closer before stopping is not worth the risk we would be taking."

"B-but-" started Manaril.

Fret cut her off. "Look, it's easy for you to say 'let's keep going' when you're not up front getting pounded on it battles. I'm not saying you three aren't helpful in a fight, but when we're all unfocused and fatigued, Chrodechild and me pay the price for it, not you guys. And we're not gonna be meat shields taking unnecessary abuse just because you're letting your emotions get the best of you."

Asad sighed, nodding in resignation. "I apologize, I was out of line," he said.

"No apology is necessary," replied Chrodechild, relieved that the argument wasn't being pushed further.

"Guys, let's make the most of the longer break than usual," said Fret. "If we get well rested, depending on how things go we might not have to stop to sleep tomorrow night. So we'll have a chance to make better progress by stopping now than we will by continuing on for a few more hours."

"Th-that sounds like the best approach then," admitted Mubal. "Forgive me for questioning your decision so harshly."

Fret exhaled. "Like she said," he began, nodding in the direction of Chrodechild, "no apology necessary."

"No, master Fret," replied Mubal. "It really _is_ necessary." He sighed. "I do not know what got a hold of me, it is not like me to act so poorly. I have no excuse for my behavior. Even worse is that this is not the first time I have needed to be lectured about this very subject. I-"

"You're rambling, Scholar Guy," said Fret, smirking. Softening his expression, he offered, "Hey, I know this isn't how you are, you guys are afraid and it's wearing on you. I just need you to trust me."

Mubal nodded. "I shall. You can count on me."

* * *

Bleary-eyed and weather beaten from the gusting desert winds, the Cherem Company adventurers continued to plow forward. They were in the middle of their second day in the desert, and knew they were getting close to where El-Qaral should be. Unfortunately, visibility was poor due to the blowing sand, and progress had been slower than they hoped because of being attacked by so many wandering beasts. It also didn't help that there were very few landmarks. That, coupled with the lack of visibility, disoriented the adventurers. They had tried to solve the problem by following a winding mountain range that seemed to hug the northern boundary of the desert, but had reached a point earlier in the day where they needed to veer south towards where El-Qaral should be. Once the mountains quickly disappeared from view, the party found itself somewhat at a loss to determine where exactly they were in the desert. The cloudless sky didn't provide many clues, and even the sun was hard to see through the dusty haze.

Finally, after what seemed like many more days of walking than it actually had been, the rough outline of buildings began to reveal itself on the horizon. Chrodechild noticed it first, and once she was relatively certain it wasn't her eyes playing tricks on her, she pointed it out to the others. Fret remarked that he was going to say something a couple of minutes earlier, but he wasn't sure that he wasn't just seeing a mirage. As the city came more firmly into view, their worst fears were realized. What used to be El-Qaral was now a city buried under sand and rock, and there didn't seem to be any people. It looked like an entire civilization had been wiped out.

Convinced that this was the doing of the Order Chancellor, Fret screamed out in anger, "Valfred! I can't believe it! The Order wiped out a million people, and for what! Because they wouldn't follow their stupid 'principles'! I'm going to get that old kook for doing this!"

Manaril fell to her knees, wailing. "Brother! Father! Mother!" she howled, sobbing uncontrollably, her body wracked by shudders.

"NOOOOOOOO!" yelled Asad, burying his face in his hands as he wept for his family, his friends, and his countrymen.

Mubal stood staring at the ruins of the imperial palace in front of him, paralyzed by the emotions swirling through his mind. Tears streamed down his face while a million thoughts went through his mind. Yet he found himself unable to give voice to any of them. His mouth opened and closed from time to time, but the stunned silence persisted.

Fret knelt down next to Manaril and pulled her into an embrace, pressing her face into his chest. He didn't have any great words of comfort to offer, but he just wanted to let her know she wasn't alone. He felt the cool moisture of his shirt on his skin, realizing it had been soaked by Manaril's tears. Not knowing what else to do, Fret just held her tightly to his body with one arm while gently stroking her ashen blonde hair with his other hand. He didn't know if it was doing any good, he just knew that Manaril not only hadn't pulled away, she seemed to be trying to press herself even closer to him. She felt so tiny and vulnerable, and more than anything she was scared about being alone.

Asad leaned on his topaz staff for support, unable to stop neither the tide of tears nor the wave of emotions pouring over him. Wiping his eyes on his sleeve, his grip on the staff faltered and he stumbled. Reaching out to steady him were the strong, sure hands of princess Chrodechild, who had been observing him while at the same time giving him space. Asad looked up at her, and she struggled not to be overcome by the depth of emotion she saw in his large chocolate eyes.

"I am so sorry," she choked, surprised at how unsteady her own voice was.

Asad blinked fresh tears out, shaking his head as he stuttered, trying to say many different things all at once. Neither he nor she was consciously aware that Chrodechild still had her hands on his upper arms, steadying him. Being so close to Asad and seeing how much he hurt made her own heart break for him. She gulped, trying to force down the feelings of affection she was experiencing, feeling that they were selfish at a time like this.

Asad knew he was in love with Chrodechild, he had known it for a long time. And upon later reflection he would realize that he saw love returned to him in her eyes at this moment. But under the crushing weight of emotion he was oblivious to everything but his own pain. So when he leaned in and rested his forehead on Chrodechild's shoulder, it was done without thought as to its significance. At that moment he was grieving loss, and that it was her friendly shoulder specifically he was leaning on held little meaning.

At first Chrodechild stiffened when Asad pressed his body against hers and laid his head on her shoulder. It was unexpected, though not unwelcome. She wasn't very used to physical affection. Growing up in the formal atmosphere of royalty, physical affection was hardly ever given or displayed. Asad didn't seem to notice her initial discomfort, something for which she was grateful. She gradually relaxed in the embrace, and eventually went so far as to kiss him on the side of the head as she whispered that things would be alright. Chrodechild trembled slightly as she breathed in his musky scent, battling again with her own emotions. She found the warmth and closeness of his embrace pleasurable, downright intoxicating, and she felt guilty for it. She didn't want to take anything from him, not under these circumstances. To Chrodechild this needed to be all about him, with her focusing only on giving comfort to him.

"I kn-knew s-so many people here," he stammered softly, exhaling a large breath. "I left a lot of good men behind when I left the Magedom. I… I n-never got to s-say…"

Asad broke down again before he could complete his sentence, shuddering as he sobbed. Chrodechild embraced him more firmly. She could feel his warm tears trickling down her own neck, ebbing over her collarbone as they disappeared beneath the collar line of her uniform before being absorbed by the fabric.

He struggled to continue speaking. "I-I… n-never had a ch-chance to say g-goodbye to my f-f-fam…" He fell apart again while trying to get the words out, but he said enough for Chrodechild to understand. She turned her head slightly, so that their cheeks were touching and her mouth was near his ear. As her lips briefly brushed against his brown skin, she tasted the salty mixture of his tears, sweat, and dusty sand.

"Asad," she whispered in his ear. "I-I know there is nothing I can say to make it better. It was no different for me after I saw my own parents killed. Just know that I am here for you, for as long as you want me to be."

Under different circumstances he would have been elated at hearing those words. He still responded to her though, despite the situation. He moved his arms, which had previously been hanging limply at his sides while Chrodechild held him, up to her back as he returned the embrace. He absentmindedly rubbed her back while periodically squeezing her a little bit tighter as he held on for support when his body betrayed him and began to shudder.

Fret was a bit at a loss. He knew he needed to give them time to grieve, but they also needed to check out the area and then figure out where to go from here. He was trying to come up with the right words to say when Mubal spoke.

"I… I wonder why the fusion of worlds left part of El-Qaral behind? Is it not normal for the fusion to remove all traces of the part of the world it destroys?"

Manaril pulled away from Fret and turned to face Mubal. "May-maybe it had s-something to do with the Chronicle that was still at the Arcane Academy?" she suggested.

Fret seized the moment to suggest that they search the El-Qaral ruins to see what they could turn up. Reluctantly, but knowing they needed to, the others agreed. The group spent the better part of the day wandering around the buried mage city, but didn't find much of interest other than that the lower levels of the Arcane Academy were very well preserved in the fusion that buried everything on the surface in sand. However, even then they found no evidence of any people and they didn't find the Arcane Academy's Chronicle anywhere. All in all, El-Qaral was a total loss. As dusk began to set in on the day, Fret decided that the group needed to make a decision on what it planned to do. He knew that he needed to tread lightly given the emotional state of everyone present.

"Guys," he began softly. "You all know I'm not a big fan of traveling at night in places I'm unfamiliar with. But I'll understand completely if you guys don't want to camp out in the ruins here. Mainly we just need to decide whether we're going to stay here for the night or start making our way out of here."

Manaril replied, "I d-don't think I want to try to g-go anywhere right now. I j-just want to rest."

Mubal nodded solemnly in agreement, but didn't say anything.

"I think it is for the best if we stay the night here and leave out in the morning," said Asad.

"Speaking of which," said Chrodechild, "What is our next destination?"

Fret pondered the situation. "I think we should go check out Salsabil next, see if this desert world extends down that far. If it doesn't, maybe someone there will know more about what happened." Looking over at Manaril and Mubal, he continued, "and maybe Shams and the others got out of El-Qaral before the fusion took place." He saw the brief flicker of hope in Manaril's eyes at that comment before her fear and doubt extinguished it. He knew the next few days were going to be even longer than the previous ones had been as they made their way towards Salsabil, and he silently hoped that the city was still intact.


	19. Memories Lost, Rekindled

It was a sight for sore eyes – both literally and figuratively. After days of trudging southeastward from the ruins of the former Magedom of Janam capital, the weather battered adventurers cleared the desert and emerged to their first sight of wide open blue skies and vegetation in a week. It felt like the lifting of a veil as the dusty haze of the desert that burned their eyes and got sand in seemingly every nook and cranny of their bodies gave way to a gentle breeze whispering across the grassy plain. After a few dozen steps in the shin high greenish-brown grass, Fret flopped on to his back in the grass and began laughing giddily. His bone weary companions joined him on the ground, sprawling out and collectively exhaling the figurative breath they had been holding for days. Off on the horizon, perhaps half a day away, could be seen the northern outskirts of Salsabil. The party members didn't need to say anything to each other, Fret's giddy laughter said everything – they were all incredibly relieved that Salsabil was still intact. What they'd actually find in Salsabil still remained to be seen, but for now this was the best news they'd had in days.

* * *

By the time the group arrived in the city, the setting sun had painted the Salsabilian sky a beautiful combination of a fiery shade of reddish- orange mixed with hues of purplish-black. Fret had seen many beautiful sunsets- growing up in Citro Village, from his balcony in Castle Starcache overlooking the Flesaria forest, and in other places he had traveled. But he had forgotten just how amazing the sunsets were in Salsabil. It was truly the most wondrous sight he had seen in all the land. The first time he had been to Salsabil was on a mission to escort the third empress consort Kureyah there from El-Qaral. During the few days they were there he, Marica, and Erin had spent each evening down by the docks in the trade district, eating dinner at an open air restaurant overlooking the harbor and watching the sunsets. Invariably the trio's lively chatter would stop during the final stages of the day's light dying out as they watched on with awe. It was impossible for Fret not to think back on those times as he made his way through the city's streets towards the inn with his current companions.

The innkeeper stared wearily at the disheveled, heavily armed adventurers that sauntered through the door. Salsabil was a lively city, but largely peaceful, and the presence of what appeared to be mercenaries of some kind was uncommon and unsettling.

"What can I do ya for?" asked the innkeeper as the spokesman of the group approached the counter. The innkeeper thought that the young sandy blonde warrior in the blue light armor looked familiar, but he couldn't place from where exactly.

"A couple of rooms, please… with baths," replied Fret, adding the latter with a chuckle.

The innkeeper raised an eyebrow, surprised at the request. Rooms that had private baths were normally only rented by nobility and similar well-to-do travelers because they were much more expensive than standard rooms, and this kid was asking for two of them like it was no big deal. "A pair of premium rooms will run ya 900 potch a night, paid in advance. Still want 'em?"

"Oh, yeah, no doubt." Gesturing back towards his companions, Fret winked as he added, "these guys stink."

While Fret settled up with the innkeeper and got the room keys, Asad approached the counter. "Excuse me, it has been some time since we have been in Salsabil. Can you tell us what has been going on in the city of late, and what the places of interest are?"

"_Clever thinking…" _thought both Chrodechild and Mubal, recognizing what Asad was up to. This was the safest way to feel out a local who would have his finger on the pulse of the city for what might have changed as a result of the Magedom of Janam being wiped out, without making themselves seem crazy if the fusion rewrote history as they knew it.

The innkeeper pondered the question for a moment, running his fingers through his gray-streaked beard as he thought. "Well, I s'pose as far as places to see goes, there's always the royal palace. They say it's 'the crown jewel of Salsabilian architecture'. Awhile back we had some emissaries from this 'Order of the One Truth', or something like that, come through and raise a big stink about the future being predetermined. The king drove them off and told them not to come back. We'll see how that goes, from what I hear those Order folks have been very, uhhh… _convincing_ in getting other towns to join up with them, if ya know what I mean."

"Is the royal palace near the viceroy's mansion?" asked Manaril.

The innkeeper gave Manaril a confused look. "I dunno what place yer meaning. Salsabil has no need of a viceroy, having a king and queen and all."

"Would that be the 'Order of the _One True Way_' you mentioned?" asked Asad.

"Yup, sounds about right," replied the innkeeper.

"Hey, you said Salsabil has a _king_ that drove them off," Fret pointed out. "Do you mean the Mage Lord Danash of the Magedom of Janam?"

"Dunno who that is or what a 'magedom' is either," answered the innkeeper. "King Masrur and Queen Furat have ruled the kingdom of Salsabil for more than a generation now. Are you sure ya all have been here before?"

"Please excuse my friends," smiled Asad warmly. "It _has_ been quite awhile, they are likely thinking of a different place we have visited." He said that as much for the benefit of the innkeeper as for the others in the group, hoping they'd take the hint.

Chrodechild spoke up. "Yes, can you remind us of the political situation here? Who are the members of the royal family other than the king and queen? Is Salsabil in conflict with any other nations? Alliances?"

The innkeeper chuckled. "Ya'all not plotting anything are ya?"

Fret laughed. "Nope, nothing like that. Have you at least heard of Cherem Company?"

The innkeeper nodded. "Sure, who hasn't? They're the ones fighting against those Order fellas. Good luck to 'em I say."

"Well that's us, we're from Cherem Company," replied Fret. "We've got to talk to the uhh… king and queen, and we want to make sure we know what's going on and all."

"As you can tell, we have _forgotten_ some things as it is," added Chrodechild, smiling.

The innkeeper chuckled. "Well alright then, I s'pose I can fill ya in so ya dun't go embarrassing yerself in front of His Majesty. Let's see… Long time ago we were at war with the kingdom of Ritterschild, an island nation east of here. But since that ended 'bout 20 years ago we haven't had any real conflict. Course, this business with those Order guys could change that I s'pose."

"Hopefully we will be able to help with that," Asad offered.

Nodding, the innkeeper continued, "The king and queen had a daughter, Kureyah, but she died maybe a dozen years back."

"What?" exclaimed Fret, but before he could say anything else Chrodechild nonchalantly poked him in the back to interrupt him. "Oh," he said, startled. "Okay."

"Anyway, Princess Kureyah had two kids, Prince Shams and Princess Manaril. Prince Shams still lives with his grandparents in the royal palace and is the successor to the throne. Dunno whatever became of Princess Manaril, she went abroad years ago and hasn't been back since."

Manaril was quietly trembling at the back of the group, struggling with her frayed emotions. She was having a very hard time wrapping her mind around the concept that Kureyah was her mother instead of Rizwan in this rewritten world, and that she was also long dead. She was excited that Shams was alive, but… would he even remember her in this world, where she had supposedly been gone for many years? And if he remembered her, what would their relationship be like?" Noticing this and suspecting what she was thinking, Mubal put his arm around Manaril and gave her a friendly, reassuring hug.

The group thanked the innkeeper for the info, with Asad tossing a 25 potch tip on the counter as they left. The group recognized that with the time already beginning to get late, and that by the time they all got bathed and cleaned up it would be well past an appropriate hour to visit the palace. At best they'd get turned away by the guards, at worst they'd get arrested if the guards were on the overzealous and suspicious side. So as excited as they were, they agreed that they'd wait until morning to go over to the palace. After that the quintet of adventurers parted ways for the night, with the three men taking one room while the two women took the other.

* * *

"You look like hell, Manaril," Fret joked. "Get too used to sleeping outdoors on the ground that you can't sleep in a bed anymore?"

It was now the following morning and the party had regrouped in the lobby of the inn, preparing to make the short trek to the royal palace. While they were all cleaned up and in fresh clothes, not all of them actually looked refreshed. Sighing, Manaril replied, "Truthfully I did not sleep a wink last night."

Everyone already knew the reason why, but Fret, as he often did, decided to try to keep the mood light. "Chrodechild's snoring keep you up all night?" he asked, feigning sympathy as he pretended to be sincerely asking the question.

"Wh-what?" exclaimed Chrodechild incredulously. "I do _not_ snore!"

Asad giggled as Fret waved his hand dismissively at Chrodechild, telling her "whatever" without saying a word.

Manaril smiled a little. Getting into the spirit of the joke, she replied, "I considered casting a _Sleep Frost_ spell, but decided it was probably better for my safety if I did not."

Chrodechild shook her head in disbelief as the others started cackling at the normally innocent and shy Manaril piling on. "I cannot believe you guys!" she huffed, turning and starting to walk away from the others towards the door.

Still laughing, Fret threw his arms around Chrodechild from behind, hugging her high up around the shoulders and pulling her back to him. "Hey now!" he said, "Don't get mad. Besides, that's just another way you and Asad make a matched set!"

Chrodechild spun around, breaking his grip, and stomped her foot as she pursed her lips and glared at him. She caught Asad blushing slightly out of the corner of her eye, but was slightly annoyed that he was still giggling about it.

"W-wow, Chrodechild," continued Fret. "I don't think I've ever seen you look so, uhh, undignified before! I kinda like it!"

"You are simply incorrigible!" Chrodechild exclaimed, exasperated.

"Ummm, guys… you are creating a bit of a scene," muttered Mubal in a voice low enough for his friends to hear. Sure enough, the innkeeper and a number of patrons were standing around watching what was transpiring.

Manaril spoke up. "No, I tried to sleep, of course, but I have far too much on my mind. This is all so… overwhelming… and I admit I am nervous about today. Is it alright with everyone if we go over there now?"

"No worries, Mana," said Fret, smiling with real sincerity. "The rest of us can only imagine what you're going through. Let's grab some breakfast from one of the vendors and eat while we're walking over there." With that he went outside. After the other four exchanged brief confused glances over how Fret referred to Manaril, they followed.

* * *

Catching up with Fret as he stopped to scan the area for a vendor selling something to eat, Manaril quietly asked the question the others were curious about. "Fret," she began, "why did you call me 'Mana' back there?"

Fret smiled at the girl. "Well, I doubt that 'Manaril' is a real common name around here, and I wasn't sure it was smart to advertise who you are until we've been to the palace and have a better idea of what's going on. So I just shortened it."

Even though Chrodechild was still annoyed with Fret, she admitted to herself that it was good thinking on his part. Still, she fully intended to ask Fredegund about this snoring thing once they were back at the castle.

"Th-that makes sense," Manaril replied, the tone of her voice sounding distant, as if her mind wasn't on the present.

"Ummm… is that alright?" asked Fret. "Did I offend you by calling you that?"

"N-no, it is nothing like that," answered Manaril. "You reminded me of my mother is all. That is, my real mother, Rizwan. She used to call me 'Mana' when I was little, back before I became a Chronicle reader." She smiled sadly, thinking about how different her relationship with her mother was before they both became tools of her father, Mage Lord Danash. And that got her wondering about who her father was now and what happened to him. She assumed that with the Magedom of Janam gone, it was now as if neither Danash nor Rizwan ever existed. More than anything right now she hoped that Shams would be a Starbearer so he would remember everything as it used to be. Losing him would hurt far worse than losing her parents.

Fret nodded sympathetically. "Hey," he said softly, but still within earshot of the others. "Would it help any if I kept calling you 'Mana'? I mean, I know this has all been really rough on you. I can't say I know what you're going through because I never knew my real parents to begin with. I want to help, I'm just not sure how," he admitted.

Manaril smiled and hugged Fret warmly, catching him by surprise. "I think I would like that," she replied, beaming. Releasing Fret from the embrace, she said, "It helps knowing that you, all of you, care. I know I have not been the easiest to put up with at times, and that I have been very selfish in worrying only about myself, like I was the only one who lost anything. So I am grateful for that."

As the group strolled off towards the palace, Fret sidled over in step with Chrodechild.

"Still mad at me?" he asked, grinning mischievously.

"Maybe…" she grumbled, stifling a chuckle and trying not to smile.

Recognizing that she was just playing, he decided to play back. Winking, he jested, "Awww, come on, it's not like I said you break wind in your sleep or anything."

Chrodechild stopped in her tracks, mouth agape at what he said. "See if _you_ wake up tomorrow!" she said in a huff, picking up her walking pace to get away from him.

"Asad!" Fret called out, getting his attention several meters away. "Will you tell your woman I'm just kidding around with her? I think she's serious about this whole killing me in my sleep thing!"

Asad laughed. "Surely Marica has taught you by now that there are certain things you don't tell a woman, even if they are true?"

"Yeah, yeah, but I wasn't being serious! I was just trying to lighten the mood. Remember how Servillah said hunting is what the Furious Roar does? Well joking around is what I do!"

"And you also said your mouth sometimes results in near death experiences," said Chrodechild, grinning back at him darkly. "We are just going one step further."

"Okay, fine! You don't snore, I swear! I just made it up to make Mana laugh earlier! Come on, guys, tell her!"

The others just laughed in response. "Sorry, friend," answered Mubal. "I believe you are on your own here."

Fret scoffed playfully, folding his arms across his chest as he mock pouted. "Sheesh! See the next time I take you guys anywhere…" he muttered.

Manaril reminded him, "It does not sound like you will be taking anyone anywhere after today anyway. Do not worry, I will see that you get a proper burial before we leave." She was getting the hang of friendly camaraderie, and was enjoying it.

"Speaking of which," added Asad. "Any particular part of your corpse you want us to take back to Marica on your behalf?" By this time all four were laughing uproariously at Fret's expense.

"You all suck…" he grumbled before breaking up into laughter himself. After a very tense week where they were almost literally at each other's throats at times, he was glad to see everyone relaxing some. Meanwhile, Asad silently noted that Chrodechild had not shown any kind of negative reaction when Fret referred to her in relation to Asad as 'his woman'. He was slowly working up the courage to have that discussion with her about his feelings for her.

* * *

The visit to the royal palace of Salsabil was a mixed bag. On the one hand, Shams remembered Manaril and seemed to be just as warm to her as he had been back in El-Qaral before the world fusion took place. On the other hand, he was like the others in not having any memory of the Magedom of Janam. As Shams explained it to the group, Princess Kureyah had been both his and Manaril's mother and that she, along with husband, had died when Shams and Manaril were very young. Their father was the eldest son and heir to the throne of a nearby kingdom, and that he and their mother were killed as a political assassination while traveling. After that Shams and Manaril came to live with their grandparents, the king and queen of Salsabil, at the royal palace. Shams explained that after it was discovered that Manaril had latent magical talents, she was sent to study under the mage Nuzhat and Mubal at an arcane academy in the north, but he couldn't remember where exactly it was.

King Masrur and Queen Furat had remembered meeting Fret previously, though with the rewritten history they remembered the circumstances very differently. The group was glad to hear that the royal family both remembered exactly who Cherem Company was, and fully supported their efforts in fighting the Order of the One True Way. Shams suggested that he return with Cherem Company back to their castle so he could learn more about the war and help the Company, and had asked the group to wait for him at the inn, where he would meet them in the evening. He arrived just after dark, and as everyone gathered in one of the rented rooms they noticed that Shams was carrying a strange looking book with him.

With a serious look on his face, Shams held the book out to Fret. "I do not know exactly what this is, but I feel like it is important and that you should look at it."

"The _Chronicle of Ancient Covenant_!" gasped Mubal. "That was in the Arcane Academy," he explained to the others. "Where did you get it?"

"Th-that is the Chronicle I used to read from," added Manaril.

Shams shrugged. "I am not sure. It seems like a memory just beyond my grasp, like something I should know but cannot for some reason."

"The problem with history being rewritten," lamented Asad. "Not everything gets to fit nice and neat into other places, gaps are left."

Shams looked at Asad, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

Fret sighed. Taking the Chronicle from Shams, he solemnly remarked, "Let me see the book. If what I think is about to happen happens, you'll be able to see for yourself…"

The room flashed white as the Starbearers all received a new vision of Starbearers in another world fighting the One King, and they all felt the new marks of the stars they received from the Chronicle. Having been through it before, the Cherem Company members did not react much themselves. However, all eyes were on Shams, awaiting his reaction. His shocked expression gave away that he had seen the vision as well, and both Mubal and Manaril exhaled in visible relief that Shams was apparently a Starbearer too.

"Wh-what was th-that?" stammered Shams, grabbing his head as the memories started to flood back into his brain.

"The truth," muttered Fret flatly. "Pretty grim, eh?"

"Th-the truth? You mean, the Magedom of Janam? My father the Mage Lord Danash VIII? Manaril's mother Rizwan? It's all true?"

"And all gone…" sighed Mubal. "I am sorry that you had to find this out, but it is helpful for you to know what really happened."

"The Order of the One True Way wiped out the Magedom of Janam and millions of people, and this is not the first time it has happened," explained Chrodechild.

"Then it is even more important that I go with you," stated Shams solemnly.

Just then, Shams' personal assistant Taj burst into the room. "Taj! What are you doing here?" exclaimed Shams.

"I am sorry to interrupt, but I came running over here after I was told that you were planning to go back to the Cherem Company castle. You must let me go with you!" begged Taj.

"Taj," replied Shams softly. "You must stay here this time. I cannot take you with me."

"Please! It is my duty to serve and protect you! I would not be able to live if something bad happened to you!" urged Taj, almost at the point of tears.

Shams sighed. "I will allow you to accompany us until we reach the desert. After that you must return home."

Taj nodded in resignation. "As you wish…"

"Well get some rest guys, we'll leave in the morning," said Fret. Smiling, he continued, "Shams, Mana, I know you two are dying to stay up all night catching up with each other, but please don't. We've got a long trip back to Castle Starcache and you'll have tons of time to talk, so please get plenty of sleep tonight."

Shams grinned. "Yes, you are right. I shall procure individual rooms for all of us for tonight, so we can all sleep without distraction."

Fret chuckled. "Gotta love a guy with connections! At least none of us will have to worry about anyone's _snoring_ keeping us awake." Shams and Taj didn't get the inside joke, but the rest of the group laughed at it. Suddenly Fret felt a sharp point poking him in the back, not hard enough to hurt but hard enough to make its presence known.

"Do not think I have forgotten about our little date tonight, my lord," grinned Chrodechild deviously, playfully jabbing Fret in the back with one of her black blades.

Fret put his hands up like he was being robbed at knifepoint. "Uhhh… yeah, Shams, you got any connections that can help me out with a certain homicidal blonde who absolutely does _not_ snore?"

The bewildered expression on Shams and Taj's faces made everyone else laugh even harder at the joke being played out. Sheathing her blade, Chrodechild ruffled Fret's hair and smirked, "You were right, I am not as 'uptight' as I usually portray." She winked at him before walking off.

"Yeah, so good luck with that one, Asad," Fret jested.

"Fortune smile upon me if I get the chance," smiled Asad, taking for him the bold step of admitting that he was very interested in being with Chrodechild when she could hear it. He figured she wouldn't embarrass him in front of the others if she wasn't herself interested in him, and he was rewarded with a bashful smile from her and a sparkle in her eyes that made his heart rate accelerate.

* * *

The Cherem Company adventurers had set out early in the morning with Shams and Taj in tow. The conversation was light because Shams had asked them not to let Taj know the truth of what had happened, feeling like Taj would be better off living in ignorance like the rest of the people in Salsabil. Chrodechild thought it was ridiculous to intentionally let someone live a lie without even giving them the opportunity of knowing the truth, but felt it was not her place to tell Shams what to do.

Fret groaned as the party approached the edge of the desert. It was a reaction born not only of a dread of facing another week of trudging through the desert, but of the sight that stood waiting for them – a very smug, arrogant looking Dirk. Asad and Chrodechild looked at Fret sympathetically, and both stepped over at the same time and placed a hand on each of his shoulders in reassurance. Mubal winced at seeing Dirk. He only knew a little bit of Dirk and Fret's relationship, but he knew Dirk as the one that assaulted him in the Chronicle room at Castle Starcache and tried to burn the Chronicles many seasons earlier.

"Well, well, about time you showed up," said Dirk smugly, leaning slightly as he stood with his arms folded across his chest. Eyeing the _Ancient Covenant _Chronicle that Shams was carrying, he sarcastically added, "I see you brought a present for me, how thoughtful."

The mages were already armed by default with their staffs, and both Fret and Chrodechild drew their dual black blades. "You cannot win here," warned Chrodechild. "We have defeated you before, and will again!"

Dirk glared at Chrodechild briefly before turning his attention back to Fret. "I see it's just like old times, a little boy hiding behind others." Noticing that the pair carried the same weapons and had similar stances, he snidely asked, "So is she your _new_ mentor?" while gesturing in the direction of Chrodechild.

Before Fret could answer, Chrodechild spoke up. "I have taught him some things, yes, but Fret is _not_ the same boy you once knew. We follow him proudly, would _anyone_ say the same of _you_?" she asked pointedly.

Dirk frowned, Chrodechild's verbal arrow had found its mark. Determined not to show it, Dirk quickly changed his expression to a scowl of disgust. Demonstrably running his eyes up and down over Chrodechild's body lecherously, he remarked, "Oh, yeah sweetheart, I bet you've taught him all kinds of things, haven't you? What do you say, Fret, is she as good of a lay as she looks, or would you even know the difference?"

Fret glared at Dirk with pure hatred in his eyes. "The Dirk I knew is dead, and now it is time for this monster he became to join him!" Slamming both of his black blades down, staking them into the ground at his sides, Fret held out his hands in front of him and darkly uttered, "Burn…" as he shot a _flame vortex_ out of his finger tips at Dirk. Many small fiery meteors pelted Dirk, who screamed as he was blown back by the ferocity of the attack. Recovering, Dirk hurriedly transformed into a demon beast while the others scrambled into position.

"Shams! Taj!" Fret shouted. "Get back behind Manaril and Mubal! Manaril, protect them with your magic! Asad, you and me need to focus on fire attacks! Mubal, keep us healed! Chrodechild, keep him occupied while the rest of us pound on him at range."

Fret and Asad cut loose _flame vortex_ mark of the stars at the same time, painfully searing the demon beast Dirk. The flames quickly dissipated, at which time Chrodechild launched into a vicious attack. She put the fury she felt towards Dirk behind it, increasing her power while still maintaining her deadly precision. The blade master was a wonder to behold as she unleashed a flurry of sweeps, slices, and slashes at blinding speed, finishing off her long combo with a front flip into a downward slash, raking her blades mercilessly over the scaled chest of the demon beast. As Chrodechild backed away, Manaril chanted and the air above the beast began to turn to steam as it rapidly cooled and began to freeze. A few seconds later ice came crashing down as her _sleep frost_ mark fully unloaded. The beast howled in agony as the frost spread over its previously superheated flesh and the wounds Chrodechild had opened. Manaril's mark also succeeded in putting the beast to sleep, saving the party from a counterattack right away.

The party repeated the same series of attack, scoring significant damage against the demon beast. In the process though, the beast woke. It angrily howled, then giving a deep guttural growl it rolled forward in an attack that knocked everyone down. Fret, the primary target, was left dazed and unbalanced by the attack. The demon beast swung around and launched a magical attack directly at Fret this time, blasting the dazed leader and throwing him back several meters, where he landed unceremoniously in a heap. Chrodechild was the first to counter, activating her _true falcon_ mark and hurling herself forward into one massive chop attack, using much of her energy to inflict three times as much damage as normal. As she back flipped away, Asad and Manaril followed up with their fire and ice attacks respectively, with Manaril's putting the demon beast back to sleep.

As Fret struggled to get up, he felt warmth on his skin and saw it beginning to glow a faint blue from Mubal casting _healing glitter_ on him. Letting out a primal scream, Fret raced forward, snatching his twin blades out of the ground on the dead run and then leaping high into the air. He executed a graceful front flip, adjusting the grip on his swords in mid-flight before coming down on the beast's head and driving the blades into its neck in a stabbing motion. The demon beast awoken and howled, thrashing violently and tossing Fret aside, sending him sprawling to the ground as Fret lost his grip on the blades he had embedded in the beast's neck. Chrodechild leapt forward to protect the defenseless and weaponless Fret, but the demon beast collapsed in pain and reverted back to the human Dirk.

Dirk fell to one knee, with one hand across his chest and the other on the ground to help balance himself. He cringed as he pulled his hand away from his chest and found it dark red and sticky, covered in the blood still oozing from several wounds. Knowing he needed to retreat and get healed up immediately, Dirk forced himself to his feet and began backing away.

"No way, Dirk, not this time!" growled Fret as he recovered his blades lying on the ground where Dirk had been standing. "I'm done with you threatening my friends! I'm ending you right here, right now!"

There was a mixed reaction from the Cherem Company party. Chrodechild and Manaril were stunned at his bloodthirstiness, while Mubal was very much in favor of eliminating this threat. Asad knew his friend wasn't thinking clearly and would later regret his actions if allowed to continue, so he stepped in front of the younger man before he could begin to attack and put his hand on his chest to hold him back. Asad made eye contact with Fret and shook his head. "Let him go, Fret. He is vanquished; you will hate yourself later if you murder him now."

"Fool! I was nothing more than a distraction anyway," spat Dirk cryptically as he turned and fled.

Fret's shoulders slumped as the fury slowly melted from his eyes. "Th-thank you, Asad, I owe you one," he whispered hoarsely, emotions threatening to overcome him. Turning to the others, he sheathed his blades and choked out "s-sorry guys…" before beginning to walk off by himself towards the desert.


	20. Evolving Relationships

"A potch for your thoughts?" asked Asad, smiling at Chrodechild as he sat down next to her a little bit away from the fire at the party's camp, interrupting her from her thoughts. It was after dinner and dark, and with the constant haze blocking the star and moon light in the desert, the large campfire provided the only visible light. After the battle against the Order's newest Archivist, Dirk, the rest of the day's journey had been a rather somber affair with minimal conversation. For his part, Fret had been nearly silent, even during skirmishes with wandering beasts they'd encountered. Chrodechild recognized that his mind was elsewhere, and that even in battle he wasn't mentally engaged, he was going through the motions and getting by on sheer experience and skill. Consequently, she took up the slack for him in directing the group, including deciding when they'd stop for the night.

Chrodechild smiled back at him after being initially startled. "Sorry, I got lost in thought. I admit I am worried about Fret. Each of these encounters with Dirk seems to get progressively harder on him."

"Yes," agreed Asad. "He has kept to himself all afternoon and evening, and that look in his eyes before I stopped him from attacking at the end was truly scary."

Nodding, Chrodechild said, "Going by his reaction afterwards, I believe he scared himself as well." Sighing, she continued, "Maybe after some sleep he will be closer to his normal self."

Asad grinned mischievously. "We know what he does to others when they are down, if necessary we could stage a joke to cheer him up."

Chrodechild grimaced, remembering the one at her expense the previous morning. Her reaction caused Asad to laugh. "Come on, you have to admit it _was_ pretty funny, and it _did _put Manaril in a better mood."

Smirking, Chrodechild relented and began chuckling. "Fair enough, I will give you that. By the way, answer me truthfully… do I snore?"

Asad snorted with laughter. "My lady, no. I would guess that was just the first thought that popped into his mind when he saw the princess appearing so stressed out and not having slept. He knew of course what the real issue was. I imagine he felt… comfortable enough with you to tease you for her benefit."

"Asad," said Chrodechild softly. "You know Fret and I are just friends, right?"

Smiling, Asad replied, "Do not think I believed what Dirk said about the two of you. I know he was being intentionally abrasive, trying to rattle Fret. Besides, I have been around him enough to know where his heart is committed."

Chrodechild chuckled. "They make a fine couple, do they not?"

Asad nodded. Treading carefully, Asad led her into the question he had been anxious to ask. "What about you, my lady? Where does your heart lie?"

She looked at him, surprised by the directness of his question and completely unprepared to answer. She was silent for a minute, and Asad began to question if he'd overplayed his hand. Just when he was preparing to apologize for being too forward, she replied.

"It is difficult for me to converse about feelings," she began, "particularly under circumstances such as this." She looked down at the ground, taking a deep breath and exhaling. "Asad, I will not deny that I care for you. I-I… I suppose that for so long I only allowed myself to focus on the war and on liberating Astrasia, I did not leave room for such personal things."

Asad gulped, giddy inside but still not sure exactly where she was going with her comments. "And now?" he asked gently.

Continuing to stare at the ground, Chrodechild said in a voice barely above a whisper, "I-I would like to have room for a relationship with you in my life. I mean, at first I thought such a thing would be a dangerous distraction while we are at war."

"But you no longer think so?"

Chrodechild shook her head. Chancing a glance at Asad's face, seeing the light from the fire casting shadows on his features, she answered, "No. I thought the same thing about Fret and Marica's relationship at first. But I have seen how, if anything, it has made the two of them stronger and even more determined and focused. I no longer see why it should be any different for me."

Grinning, Asad asked her, "So you like me, eh?"

The question caused the often stoic princess and commander to blush. "What more can I say?" she asked softly. "I have laid my heart bare before you."

Asad's grin faded into a serious expression. Running his hands through his thick red mane, he replied, "I feel the same way about you, I have for a long time. I love you, Chrodechild."

Chrodechild grinned. "You felt the same way and you let me sit here and struggle, pouring my heart out? Have you no shame, putting that off on the woman?"

Chuckling, Asad shifted closer and took her hands in his. "Truthfully, I always doubted myself with you. It was hard not to, back in the Magedom you were a princess being pursued by the Mage Lord himself, and a commander of what became the Magedom's elite forces. And I was… just a guy, what chance did I have with someone like you?"

"Just a guy?" she asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically. "Give yourself more credit than that. You led an entire division of the Mage Army! I always respected you, as a leader and as a person."

"Maybe, but 'respect' does not mean I was in your class, or had any potential of ever being anything more than a colleague."

"Asad," said Chrodechild. "I have come to believe that it matters not _what_ a person is, it is _who _they are when titles and such are stripped away that is important. And you are much greater to me than Danash ever would have been."

"I do not know what to say," admitted Asad. "I hope to live up to your faith in me."

"Just be yourself, Asad. Forget about the other stuff, I am just Chrodechild."

Asad smiled warmly. "I have to say, that is a rather profound way of looking at things."

Chrodechild began to giggle. "What?" asked Asad, confused by her reaction.

"Sorry, it is just that you would never guess who I learned that from. It is really rather humorous."

"Hmmm…" said Asad, grinning. "Anyone I know?"

"Fret," replied Chrodechild, giggling again.

Asad's jaw dropped in surprise. "You are right, I never would have guessed." Then he started chuckling as well. "Then again, he does have a way of surprising people."

"Something else I just realized…" said Chrodechild quietly, in a more serious tone. "I love him."

Asad's heart leapt into his throat and he felt like he had just been smacked across the face. "Wh-what?" he choked out.

"Oh! Asad! No, no, no." She couldn't help but laugh despite the situation. "Not like that! I only meant to say that I realized I care for him more than as just a regular friend." Giggling again, she said "I am sorry, I did not mean to give you a heart attack."

"Yes, well I think it just started beating again," Asad jested, patting his chest for effect.

Her expression turning more serious, she leaned into Asad. As her lips found purchase on his, the inexperienced couple clumsily but eagerly melted into each other. Any tentativeness was quickly overcome by their passion, and both felt a sense of completeness that they had never had before. More than anything, they just felt _right_ with each other.

* * *

While Asad and Chrodechild were enjoying each other's company, Mubal, Manaril, Shams, and Taj were sitting around the fire talking. Shams had relented and allowed Taj to stay with the group after they had battled Dirk. Fret took his sleep pallet and moved away from the group to be off by himself. Lying on his back awake but with his eyes closed, he was so lost in thought that the presence of a hand on his arm startled him. He opened his eyes to see Manaril sitting on her knees next to him, looking at him with concern.

"Hey," she said softly. "You seem really down, do you want someone to talk to about it?"

Fret forced a weak smile. "Awww, I'll be okay. You know that guy Dirk we fought today was the closest thing I had to an older brother, right?"

Manaril nodded.

"It just kills me how things have turned out. When we found that first Chronicle, _Shining Legacy_, he was the only one of us that didn't get a vision from it and become a Starbearer. He got really jealous of the marks of the stars we learned, and those Order Archivists used that to turn him against us. I've given up on convincing him to change his mind, but it still takes a lot out of me emotionally having to fight him."

"Are you sorry that Asad stopped you from killing him?" she asked tentatively.

Fret reached out and brushed Manaril's cheek, pushing the hair aside that had fallen over her face. "Mana, no," he whispered. "I am no murderer, I'm _grateful_ that Asad stopped me. He told me I'd hate myself later if I did it, and he was right. I just… really hope I never have to see Dirk again."

Manaril smiled, in part from his use of her old/new nickname, and in part because of the answer itself. She wanted to believe in his goodness, and like the others she had been concerned by his violent reaction after they had already won the battle.

"Something he said at the end still has me bothered though," Fret added. "He said he was only a distraction, but a distraction for what?"

"He could have simply been trying to get under your skin, to create doubt. He did that with other things he said, right?" suggested Manaril.

"It's possible," Fret noted. "But I also wonder how he knew where to find us, somehow he knew we were coming through there today. Does the Order have some way of tracking us that we don't know about? Or worse yet, did something happen at the castle and that's where he found out where we were going and all?"

"I would suspect they can sense Chronicles like Luo-Tao can, and we had _Ancient Covenant_ with us. Fret, this is going to sound hypocritical coming from me, but I have to say it anyway. You are going to make yourself sick with worry about all of these things we cannot control, or do anything about right now. All we can do is regroup back at the castle and figure out the next step from there."

Fret smiled at the girl, genuinely this time. "You're right, I know. Don't worry, I'll be alright."

Manaril grinned at him. "Well, go ahead and sleep off these doldrums and get back to being your usual obnoxious self in the morning."

Fret couldn't help but laugh. "I've just had my own game played on me!" he exclaimed, grinning back at her.

"Game?" she asked.

"Yeah, joking around with someone to put them in a better mood."

Manaril giggled. "I hope you feel better in the morning. It is getting late, so I think I will go turn in myself."

* * *

The journey home took almost two weeks, but the weary adventurers finally dragged back into Castle Starcache, having completed the return trek from Salsabil. The party members went their individual ways after entering the castle, and having come in from the south entrance, Fret stopped and briefly chatted with Gorno about another special order before continuing into the main entrance hall. Moana was excited to see him, though she commented on how dirty and stinky he was. Fret found out that Marica was out hunting renegades again, but that she was due back that day so she'd probably be back by the time he had gotten showered and taken a good nap. Fret thanked Moana, telling her that he'd stop by later in the day to get caught up on the jobs and missions board. He punched the button to summon the lift, but before it got to the first floor he decided that there was something he needed to go talk to Elder Rajim and Sisuca about before doing anything else. So as discretely as he could, he passed through the tavern and into the dining hall area, where the two often hung out in the castle. He smiled as he saw Elder Rajim back by the north entrance door and Sisuca upstairs on the second floor loft. _"First stop, Elder Rajim. Here we go…"_ he thought to himself.


	21. Runaround

"Logan, can I ask you a question?" asked Marica, tentatively.

The aging tavern master and innkeeper looked up from behind the bar, where he was going over the inventory logs and preparing an order for goods to have the Wanderer merchant Rekareka and her son Tuhululu fill. With the number of Starbearers inhabiting the castle continuing to grow, Logan found himself needing to place orders more frequently to keep the place stocked up with food and drink.

"Sure, lass, what can I do for you?"

Marica glanced around a bit nervously before continuing, double checking that no one else was around within earshot. "Ummm… has Erin mentioned anything about Fret? They seem to be spending an awful lot of time together lately, and whenever I've interrupted them they both act funny, like they're guilty of something."

"Hmmm…" replied Logan. "Have you tried asking either of them about it?" Truthfully he already knew what was going on, as did a handful of other people. But it was for the best to pretend like he didn't know anything.

"Yeah, of course I've asked." Marica sighed. "But it's like they're hiding something. They just say nothing's up and try to change the subject." She thought back to a few days earlier when she had gotten back from Atrie's world. She was so excited to hear from Moana that Fret was back, and that he was in the tavern. However, when she entered the tavern she was stunned to see Erin in Fret's arms, kissing him on the cheek and smiling giddily. While they both acted happy to see her, she didn't fail to notice that they quickly directed the conversation away from whatever was going on when she came in.

"Sorry, lass, you know kids don't tell their parents anything these days," lied Logan. "As far as I know her and Jale are still an item. I still see them together often enough."

Marica thanked Logan and walked off, thinking. She had talked to Jale already, though she didn't get a straight answer from him either other than Jale saying he was still seeing Erin and didn't know what Erin and Fret might be up to. She'd even asked Liu, who accused her of being paranoid. She was very frustrated, and was getting close to having a serious heart to heart with Fret about their relationship and how he was making her feel.

* * *

"So why exactly did you need me to help you with this, dad?" asked a rather exasperated Marica. She had been eating lunch with Fret when Elder Rajim came up and asked if she'd help him after lunch. She was already in a bad mood because Fret was being so disconcertingly quiet, and she didn't really want to go do anything with her dad. But she didn't have a good excuse not to, so she agreed. Now she and Elder Rajim were strolling around the castle grounds.

"Now, now, Marica, have some patience," chided Elder Rajim. "It will not take that long to make the rounds and ensure that our exterior defense posts are in good shape. We don't want to be in a situation again where the Order is able to launch a surprise attack on the castle."

"I understand _that_," said Marica, sighing. "It's just not much of a two person job."

Elder Rajim stopped walking and turned towards his daughter, frowning. "Is it too much to ask for you to spend some time with your father once in awhile? Since all this business started I feel like I barely see you anymore."

"I-I'm sorry, dad," replied Marica, looking down at the ground shamefully.

"Anyway," continued Rajim, "I can tell you're in a bad mood. What's got you like this?"

Marica bit her bottom lip as she tugged at a bang of hair, thinking about how much she wanted to tell her dad. Sighing, she replied, "Sorry, it's just that I'm irritated with Fret. He's been acting all weird lately and I can't figure out why."

"Ahhh, yes… young love…" said Rajim, chuckling. "Your mother used to get so mad at me at times, too." He became silent as he thought back to the time when his wife was alive.

"You miss her, don't you?" Marica asked quietly. As her dad simply nodded solemnly, she said sadly, "I wish she hadn't died before I was old enough to know her. I can't remember anything about her."

"She loved you and Sisuca very much, and even loved Fret as a son. She was a remarkable woman, taken before her time."

Marica hugged her dad. "I'm sorry, dad. Sometimes I get so caught up in my own world that I forget how much you've suffered with mom gone."

Elder Rajim smiled. "Oh, don't mind me, dear. Besides, you've grown into a beautiful young woman who has her own life to live. Even if it's hard as a parent to let go, I know you'll be fine." The two resumed their walk as they talked.

Marica looked at her dad quizzically. "Let go? Is something going to happen to you? Is there something going on that you aren't telling me?"

Elder Rajim coughed nervously. "N-no, not at all, dear. I was perhaps getting a little sentimental, thinking about your mother and how much you children have grown." Changing the direction of the conversation, he said, "So Fret has you in this bad mood, eh? You know, even though Sisuca had been talking about you two eventually getting married for years now, it still came as a surprise when I found out you two were… uhhh… romantically involved. It's been hard getting used to not thinking of you two as brother and sister," he admitted.

"To tell you the truth, dad, I was probably just as surprised as you. I mean, I never really thought of him as being my brother, more like just a friend that lived with us almost my whole life. I'm not sure I could tell you when I started seeing him differently than that, or when it happened for him either." She looked at her dad again. "Dad," she asked worriedly, "do you disapprove of it?"

"Does he make you happy, Marica?"

"No fair, I asked you a question first!" replied Marica, smirking.

Chuckling, Rajim twisted the end of his mustache as he contemplated his answer. "The answer to my question is what drives my answer," he explained. "If he makes you happy and you want to be with him, then I approve. He's still a bit rough around the edges. But he has also matured quite a lot in the last year and is turning into a fine young man, I have to say. Certainly better than I hoped for at times when you children were younger and getting into trouble all the time."

Marica giggled. "I think I got into more trouble trying to keep him _out_ of trouble!"

Rajim shook his head. "I still remember when you were about 9, old man Yadima coming into town screaming about the _Trio of Terror_ after he caught you, Fret, and Jale dressing up a scarecrow in his field in one of Sisuca's dresses."

Laughing, Marica replied, "That's what I mean! It was Fret's idea that the scarecrow would be more effective in keeping away the birds if it looked like Sisuca! And Jale was the one that stole her dress! I went along to make sure they didn't do anything even crazier."

"You were plenty mischievous yourself, dear," grinned Rajim. "I doubt it was _all_ the boys' fault."

"I guess we _were_ a handful growing up," admitted Marica. "For you and Sisuca both," she added.

Smiling, he said, "I can't complain about the way you children turned out though, looking at you all now. So even though I'll always see both you and Fret as my children, I understand that you're not truly brother and sister and I'm happy for you both if being together brings you happiness."

"Thanks, dad," replied Marica. Sighing, she continued, "I just wonder if it's going to last. I mean, I love him, but the way he's been acting lately makes me wonder if he hasn't become more interested in someone else."

"Well, dear," said Rajim, carefully considering his next words, "the foundation of any good relationship is trust. If you don't trust that what he tells you is the truth, then you have to ask yourself why that is. What I mean to say is, does he give you reason to doubt his honesty?"

Marica considered the question. "I-I guess not. Other than you he's the most honest person I've ever known, honest to a fault even since he doesn't know how to keep his big mouth shut at times."

Rajim nodded. "It sounds like you should give him the benefit of the doubt until he shows otherwise then."

* * *

Elder Rajim and Marica continued to make their way around the castle grounds and talk as they checked out the exterior defenses and made notes on where improvements were needed. A few hours had passed by the time they finished and came back up the path to the north entrance. Rajim nodded at Rekareka and Tuhululu standing outside the doors as they passed through and entered the castle. Parting ways with her dad after an enjoyable afternoon hanging out with him, Marica was smiling again and feeling better as she strolled into the dining hall and then into the tavern on her way back to the lift upstairs. She was only about halfway through the tavern, however, when she was flagged down from behind by Tuhululu.

"M-my l-lady," the young Wanderer boy stuttered, slightly out of breath. "I-I h-have a note to g-give to you."

Marica looked at him questioningly, but took the note from him. She noticed that it was sealed, which struck her as odd. "Uhhh… okay, thanks," she said politely as she took the note and began to walk off.

"M-my lady?" asked Tuhululu.

"Yes?"

"Th-the person who asked me to deliver it said to tell you not to delay in opening it. I gather it is important."

"Who gave it to you?" asked Marica.

"I… I am sorry, I am not at liberty to say."

Marica looked at him inquisitively, her curiosity piqued. "Well, okay then. I'll read it on my way upstairs," she replied as she turned and walked away.

As she entered the lift, she continued to stare at the sealed note in her hand, puzzled as to who it was from or what it was about. Leaning back against the wall as the lift began its achingly slow ascent, she broke the seal and read the contents:

_Marica – Follow these instructions completely and without delay, and the answers you seek shall be found. Turn over the chair you sat in at lunch today._

"_What the heck is this about?" _thought Marica to herself. "Answers to what questions?" she asked out loud to herself, since no one else was in the lift with her. She wasn't in the mood to play games, but she was intrigued enough to do what the note told her. She punched the 1st floor button on the lift and waited for it to finish climbing to the 4th floor so it could reverse course.

* * *

Walking back into the tavern, she groaned to herself. Sitting at the table she had eaten lunch at were Gorno, Gadburg, and Balsam, enjoying their late afternoon tea. Creepy old Balsam was sitting in the chair she needed to flip over to see what was under it. Putting on a smile she walked over to the group.

"Well, what have we here?" asked Gadburg, smiling as she approached. "Come to join the geezers for a spot of tea?"

"Actually, I have kind of a strange request," replied Marica, pulling on a braid of hair. "See, I got this weird note that says I need to look under the chair I sat in for lunch today. And well, that's this one," she said, pointing to Balsam's seat.

"What about the chair?" questioned Balsam, who hadn't been paying attention.

"She said you need to get off your duff so she can look at it!" shouted Gorno in his typically booming voice, causing Gadburg to guffaw and Marica to blush in embarrassment.

"Wh-what? Well I never!" exclaimed Balsam. "Kids nowadays, no respect for their elders, I swear…"

"Settle down, Balsam," chuckled Gadburg, "that's not what the girl said, and she certainly didn't mean she needed to look at your wrinkly old butt. She just needs you to get up for a moment so she can look at the bottom of the chair."

"The bottom of the chair? Is something wrong with the chair?" asked Balsam, still not moving.

Standing up, Gorno shouted, "Here, I'll help!" The older Auster artisan bent over and lifted the chair, with Balsam still sitting in it, up over his head so she could see the underside. "Huh! Looks like some kind of paper stuck to the bottom!" he declared as Balsam screamed to be put down and Gadburg roared with laughter. Marica jumped up and snagged the note, saying thanks and quickly making her exit as Gorno set Balsam's chair back down and Balsam continued scolding Gorno.

* * *

Ducking back into the main entrance hall, she broke the seal and opened the note.

_Since you're probably standing near Moana anyway, go ahead and ask her for your next instructions. Do NOT ask her for any extra information!_

"Moana?" she asked, looking up at the woman standing a few meters away. "I guess you're supposed to have something for me?"

Moana smiled. "Sure do, dear." She produced another sealed note from inside her vest and handed it to Marica.

Taking the note from Moana, Marica thought briefly about what the last note said before deciding to ask anyway. "Ummm…. Moana? What are these notes about?"

Moana wagged a finger at the younger girl as she grinned. "Nope, I was told that you're not allowed to ask questions."

Frowning, Marica asked "Can you at least tell me who gave you this note to give to me?"

Moana cackled gleefully. "I may be a gossip, my dear, but I'm sworn to secrecy on this one. Truth be told, I really don't know anything about it anyway. I was only told to give you the note when you asked for it, and that you weren't supposed to ask any questions."

Marica nodded, sighing as she broke the seal on the new note.

_See, I told you not to bother asking Moana for more info! For failing to follow directions, go help Zenoa clean the Tablet of Promise. After you're done she will give you the next note._

Marica groaned. "Now this is just not fair!" she whined, stalking off towards the basement. It didn't dawn on her until she was halfway done polishing the Tablet of Promise under the ebony witch's watchful eye that it didn't matter whether or not she asked Moana anything, the person who wrote the note assumed she had broken the rules. That just made her more irritated. She finally finished the job of polishing the huge tablet, which took a good hour and a half to get to Zenoa's satisfaction. All she got out of it was a sarcastic comment about it taking her long enough, and to next time send Sisuca instead since she did a better job. Marica got away from the witch as soon as she could after getting the note from her. She opened the note as soon as she stepped out of the basement.

_Go take a shower and get cleaned up, then go see Rekareka as soon as you're done. (No Stinky, the shower part is NOT optional)_

Marica fumed. At the beginning she had no idea what the notes were about, but at this point she was fairly sure she knew who was behind them. And she wasn't enjoying his little game. As she went back towards the main entrance she debated with herself on just going straight to Rekareka anyway, or following the directions. By the time she got to the lift she decided that she did actually stink of metal polish, and her skin was coated with a sheen of perspiration. She had also spent a couple of hours out in the sun with her dad earlier and gotten a bit sweaty then. So even though it pissed her off to follow the directions, she went back upstairs and got a change of clothes from the room and went to shower. She wasn't at all surprised that Fret was nowhere to be found.

* * *

It was early evening by the time Marica showered, changed, and made it downstairs to where Rekareka and Tuhululu's shop was outside the north entrance. Marica sighed as she looked up at the sun sinking on the horizon. _"What a waste of a day, all I've done is run around doing busy work!"_ she thought. Putting on a big fake smile, with mock sweetness she approached Rekareka and exclaimed, "Let me guess! You have another fetch quest for me!"

The portly woman peered at the younger girl over the top of her glasses. "A quest? That would be Moana's territory, not mine."

"Mom," said Tuhululu tentatively, "I-I think she means the note you're supposed to give her."

Marica rolled her eyes. She didn't get Tuhululu at all, the kid was seemingly afraid of his own shadow and everything about him lacked confidence. Fret had sent him on a couple of different "confidence building" quests at the behest of Rekareka and they'd been abject failures. Marica had initially felt kind of bad for the kid, but now she found his whimpering attitude annoying. Especially since it wasn't like he had anyone making him be like that, even his own mother was doing everything she could to try to get him to grow up and become a man. In one of her "feeling evil" moments Marica had suggested that they take Tuhululu with them on a mission and see if he could make it through even the first battle without crapping his pants. Fret's response had been typically practical, saying he wasn't going to risk her life or anyone else's insisting on helping someone who obviously didn't want to be helped. Marica remembered how that conversation ended, with Fret grimacing in frustration when she suggested it was too bad that a Star of Destiny was wasted on Tuhululu instead of someone more deserving like Dirk.

"A note?" asked Rekareka absentmindedly. "Oh, yes! I have a package with a note that I'm supposed to give to you. Wait here, please." Rekareka went inside the storage shed they kept their goods in and came back with a white box approximately 18 inches across and wide, and 9 inches tall. On top of the box was a familiar looking sealed note. Marica grinned when she realized she was looking at the note with a sense of anticipation. Walking away from the merchants after accepting the package, she tucked the box under her arm as she worked the note open with her free hand and read the contents.

_I went too far last time, didn't I? I'll make it up to you, I promise. Deliver this package to Sisuca, do NOT open it. Patience will soon be rewarded._

Marica shook her head as she chuckled. _"Whatever he's got planned had better be good to make up for all the running around he's made me do."_

"Oooh, you're here!" exclaimed Sisuca as she saw her little sister coming up the stairs to the 2nd floor residential area. Come with me to my room!"

* * *

After entering Sisuca's room, the older girl was practically bouncing off the walls in exuberance. "Let's start with your hair!" she squealed gleefully.

"Huh? What are you talking about? What's wrong with my hair?" asked Marica, puzzled about what she was doing here.

"Silly, it's my job to get you ready!"

"Ready? Ready for what?"

"Oh, just sit down already!" scolded Sisuca. "Don't make mommy have to punish you!"

Shuddering at her sister referring to herself yet again as 'mommy', Marica sighed and sat down in chair by the dresser, figuring the path of least resistance was just to give in and get it over with.

An hour later, Sisuca had finished with Marica's hair and makeup. "See! You look sooo pretty!" beamed Sisuca.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she had to agree that Sisuca had done a wonderful job, even if she loathed admitting it. Marica then frowned, noticing the stark contrast between her elegantly done up hair and the drab clothes she was wearing. Before she could say anything, however, Sisuca was already on top of it.

"Now, let's get you out of those clothes and into something more appropriate for the occasion!"

"What _occasion_ are we talking about exactly?" asked Marica sarcastically.

Sisuca continued as if she didn't even hear the question.

"Hurry up now, strip down while I get your dress ready."

"Wh-what? I can dress myself you know! I don't need you to dress me."

"Right now all you need to do is _undress_ yourself, don't make mommy ask again," warned Sisuca.

Sighing, Marica started undressing while she heard her sister rustling around in the box Marica had delivered to her from Rekareka. "What's in the box anyway?" she asked, turning around to see while she worked on getting her clothes off.

"Nuh uh, close your eyes! And _no_ peaking!" said Sisuca sharply. Marica complied, then allowed herself to be bent and twisted and tugged on while Sisuca dressed her and made alterations. After about 30 minutes that seemed like at least three times as long, Sisuca excitedly told Marica she could open her eyes.

Marica opened her eyes and smirked at Sisuca, as if to sarcastically say "Done, already?" However, as soon as her eyes caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror her jaw dropped open and she was stunned at her appearance. She was wearing a very expensive looking red party dress that was form fitting and accentuated her features. The low cut top exposed the flawless alabaster skin that provided a perfect backdrop to the necklace she'd barely taken off since the night Fret gave it to her. Sisuca handed her a pair of matching shoes, smiling at her with pride in how glamorous she'd made her sister look. She was so happy for her 'babies'.

"W-wow, Sisuca," the younger sister finally said. _"What am I getting into?"_ "This dress is so beautiful. B-but… what is this all for?"

Sisuca giggled giddily. "I nearly forgot! I am supposed to give you this note and send you on your way!"

Marica stared at the note that Sisuca had gotten from her desk drawer and was holding in her outstretched hand. Suddenly she felt somewhat nervous, but didn't know why. She took the note from Sisuca and thanked her, exiting the room before breaking the seal and reading it.

_I can only imagine how stunning you look right now, the anticipation is killing me. You're going to walk through the dining hall and tavern, and everyone will probably stare as you go by. But I want you to think about what it is they're seeing – the most beautiful, amazing girl in all the land – the same thing I see every day I'm with you. Come up to the roof to find me waiting._

Marica gulped, her eyes threatening to moisten at the sentiment in the note. Quickly dabbing at them before any tears could cause her makeup to run, she folded the note and took a deep breath before starting down the stairs to parade herself through the very full tavern on her way upstairs to the roof.


	22. Will you?

Pushing open the door to the roof, Marica felt the slight chill of the evening breeze and briefly wished that she had her cape. The dress she wore wasn't exactly designed with protection from the elements, or even warmth, in mind. Stepping out on to the roof, she was also happy to see that the usual riff-raff of Starbearers that liked to hang out up here were nowhere to be seen. Marica involuntarily rubbed her arms for warmth as she took in the sight before her. Down a short flight of stairs from where she was standing was a wooden table with two chairs, obviously having been brought up here from the dining hall. The table was set for two, and several covered silver platters sat on a cart next to the table. In the center of the table was a candelabrum that Erin was in the process of lighting, and on lamp stands away from the table hung a pair of lit lanterns to provide ambient lighting. The sun had gone down completely, and even with the lanterns and the candles the lighting up here on the roof was dim. At the far end of the roof, leaning against the stone railing with his back turned to her was Fret, looking out over the nighttime horizon. He either hadn't heard her join him on the roof, or he wasn't acknowledging it if he had.

Marica began walking down the stairs, her shoes clicking against the stone with each step. As she stepped down on to the lower level of the roof, Erin looked up and let out a short gasp. Fret spun around, as if the sound startled him. Marica grinned at seeing his cape whip sharply behind him, realizing that he was completely decked out himself. Not just in the sky blue armor she thought was sexy enough on its own, but in the complete ensemble with the cape and the jeweled headband that he almost never wore. _"You are sooo hot,"_ she thought as she looked at him, smiling rather seductively for his benefit. She could tell by his eyes practically bugging out at her appearance that he was as equally taken by her as she was by him.

Erin finished lighting the candles and then started walking towards the door. When she got to Marica she hugged her and whispered, "You look _incredible! _You two have a _great_ evening together." Then Erin left the two of them alone, returning downstairs.

As Marica walked past the table and continued to close the gap between herself and Fret, each of them silently and eagerly soaked in the other's appearance. Marica wanted nothing more than to throw Fret on the table and ravish him, and from the look in his eyes she _knew_ that's exactly what he wanted to do to her as well. That knowledge was thrilling to her, because even though she was a very confident person, she wasn't necessarily that confident in herself when it came to being feminine and girlish. Though with it having become clear to her that Fret and Erin's strange behavior was from them scheming about this, the self-esteem issues she'd been struggling with the last few days were rapidly fading away.

Silence continued to hang in the air as Marica reached Fret. They were transfixed on each other. He reached out and slid his hands around her hips until they joined at her lower back. She melted into his embrace, tilting her head and brushing her lips against his, tantalizing him by not allowing him to lock on right away. Instead she trailed gentle kisses down his cheek and jawbone to his neck, where she caused him to quiver in pleasure and groan softly as she lightly dragged the tip of her tongue down his neck to where his shirt met his skin right above his collarbone. She continued to tease him like this until he lightly tugged at the back of her hair to tilt her head back up, then gently but firmly gripping the back of her head he pressed her face to his, forcing their lips together. They kissed passionately, their tongues dueling not in competition but in pure need of each other's essence. Finally they parted for air, each smiling blissfully at the other. Fret was the first to break the spell of silence they'd seemingly been under.

"I know this will sound dopey, but words can't describe how beautiful you look tonight."

Marica giggled. "That's not dopey," she said softly, "that's sweet." Grinning she added, "Certainly a lot sweeter than you were to me _earlier_ today," poking him in the chest playfully.

"Yeah, well… I'm sorry about that. I needed to keep you occupied and out of the way, but I guess it _was_ kind of mean to make you have to deal with Zenoa."

"And don't forget calling me 'stinky', even if it was true," she chuckled.

"And making you walk around for hours with your dad," added Fret. "Wow, I really _was_ an ass today, wasn't I?"

"The last several days, to be honest. All the sneaking around and doing stuff with Erin then being defensive and evasive about it didn't make me feel very good about the way things were going."

Fret drew Marica into a tighter embrace. "I'm really sorry. I didn't realize I was hurting you. I… I wanted to keep this all a secret… and it took a lot to get organized. I never stopped to consider what it looked like was going on to you. Forgive me?"

Smirking, Marica asked "You didn't figure out from that kiss that you were forgiven?"

Fret chuckled. "You know me, not the sharpest blade on the rack."

His using that phrase her dad often used to describe Fret reminded her of something. "Hey, you said having me hang out with my dad was part of keeping me out of the way as well? So even _he _was in on this? Was there _anyone_ besides me that didn't know what was going on?"

Laughing, he replied, "Only a few people knew. Most of the people I gave notes to give to you had no idea, and none of them knew the actual contents of the notes. I sealed them to keep it that way. None of them even knew who else besides themselves I'd given notes to, with the exception of Sisuca since I had to tell her about the dress and where it was coming from."

"Speaking of which, where in the world did you get this dress? It's gorgeous, but I just can't envision you picking something like this out."

"I actually found that in a chest in the ruins of El-Qaral. It probably belonged to some noble if I had to guess." Grinning, he added, "You look mind-blowingly hot in it by the way."

Marica blushed slightly at the compliment. Fret had told her a number of times in the relatively short time they'd been a couple that she was beautiful or pretty, but she had never heard anyone describe her in such visceral terms before. Let alone the man she loved, whose opinion on the subject of her physical appearance mattered more to her than anyone else's. "Well… you don't look so shabby yourself," she whispered sultrily, leaning back into him for another passionate kiss. The love behind the kiss only served to increase the lust they felt for each other.

"I'd say we should probably go ahead and eat before the food gets cold, but ya know, it feels rather warm up here to me!" he jested, mock fanning himself for effect, which caused Marica to playfully punch him in the arm.

"Well, since you're so warm, why don't you let me wear your cape during dinner? I'm half-naked compared to you and it _is_ a little chilly out here."

Fret unclipped his cape and wrapped it around her, fastening it around her neck. Grinning mischievously, he said, "There ya go, nice and warm now." Leaning over, he slid his left hand behind her back and huskily whispered in her ear, "Even if I _was_ enjoying the visual effect before…" as he slowly raked the fingertips of his other hand down her left breast, making sure to pass over the hardened tip.

She gasped at the unexpected touch, which sent a jolt of pleasure coursing through her body. Squeezing herself tightly up against him, Marica giggled as she trembled slightly. "And I'm supposed to want to let go of you now to eat?" she asked teasingly. She didn't mind what he did. Besides the fact it felt damn good, she trusted him completely and knew that even when they got carried away in their passion and fooled around some, he never let things go too far.

Fret laughed softly at her reaction, gently leading by the hand over to the dinner table. He pulled her chair out and guided her into it, then uncovered the first platter and began serving the appetizers. He also opened a bottle containing a sweet tasting mild wine that Logan had given him for the occasion.

An hour later, after dinner and a lot of pleasant conversation, Marica smiled at Fret and asked, "So tell me, what prompted all this?"

Fret raised an eyebrow inquisitively at her, but when he didn't reply immediately she continued. "Don't get me wrong, I love that you went through all the trouble for me. I'm just curious what made you come up with the idea of doing it."

Fret felt his heart rate increasing, and could practically feel it pounding in his chest. He had been trying to find a natural segue into what he wanted to ask, and unexpectedly here it was. His mind raced as he tried to recall the carefully prepared and well rehearsed 'speech' he was about to give, though suddenly his throat felt dry and the words fuzzy in his mind. He slowly began to stand, though he wasn't consciously aware he was doing it.

Marica noticed his eyes go blank like his brain was suddenly somewhere else, and she was puzzled by his action of standing up. "Fret?" she asked warily, watching his expression. "Are you okay?"

Taking a deep breath, he nodded. "Sorry," he croaked. "More nervous than I thought I'd be."

"Nervous? About what?" She had no idea what he was talking about.

Taking another drink of wine and clearing his throat, he began to speak.

"Marica, we've known each other our whole lives. I feel like I know everything there is to know about you, but at the same time you constantly surprise me and keep me on my toes…" He paused for a moment as he collected his thoughts.

"I know I'm not the smartest or most eloquent guy around, and I can't even really describe how I feel when I'm with you. And I know that we've only been a couple for a little while, but I don't want to ever give this feeling up, I never want to give you up…"

Marica gulped, her heart was pounding from what was being said to her. Suspicions as to his intent began slowly filtering into her consciousness.

"Marica, I love you more than anything. And I know I'm probably an idiot for springing this on you so soon and in the middle of fighting a war and all, but…"

He reached into his pocket and produced a small box from it. Opening the box to reveal a gorgeous diamond ring set in platinum and gold, Fret got down on his knees in front of Marica and asked softly, "will you marry me?"

Tears that had begun to well up in her eyes as he spoke now flowed freely down her cheeks, and she tried to catch her breath as the joy she was feeling threatened to suffocate her. She nodded her head up and down rapidly as she fought to speak, finally choking out a hoarse 'yes' before nearly tackling him in a hug.

Later on that night, after the shock had worn off just a little, the pair laid awake in bed talking. Fret explained how he had almost impulsively asked her the night he had given her and their friends the necklaces, but Jale and Liu ragging on him killed the mood and he backed down on it. He also explained how he originally thought it would be better to wait until after defeating the Order and the One King before getting married, but seeing the Magedom wiped out made him realize how they could be gone tomorrow like they never existed. And after fighting Dirk again on the way back he decided he wasn't going to wait any longer. Marica laid with her head on his chest, listening intently as he told her about what he went through emotionally on that most recent mission in more detail than he had previously.

"So anyway," he said, "after I got back I talked to Elder Rajim right away to get his permission to marry you, then I told Sisuca for obvious reasons. Later on that day after thinking about it some, I came up with the basic idea of surprising you with a special dinner like tonight, and decided that Erin would be the best one to help me plan and organize it all. When you came into the tavern…"

"You had just told her…" whispered Marica, it now dawning on her what exactly was going on when she walked in on Erin in his arms, kissing him. "…and she was excited for you – for us – and that's why she was hugging and kissing you."

"You got it…" replied Fret softly. "I still am really sorry that it looked like something else and that I didn't do a better job of making it clear that nothing was going on between me and her." Sighing, he added, "I promised you a long time ago that I wouldn't make that mistake again."

Marica lifted her head and looked Fret in the eyes. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Back in Grayridge Mine I promised that I wouldn't make you feel like you were less important than someone else, and ironically enough I did it again with the same person."

Marica blinked her eyes, shaking her head in disbelief. "I-I c-can't believe you remembered that…" she said softly.

Fret smiled, brushing the back of his hand against her cheek. "Even though I didn't realize it until much later, I think that was the first time I felt something more than friendship for you."

Marica smiled back. Laying her head back down on his chest, she replied, "You know, I think it was the same for me too."

The newly engaged couple lay together quietly in the dark, content to enjoy each other's physical proximity, snuggling as they drifted off to sleep while reflecting on all they'd been through and their future ahead – together.

* * *

**AN: I've had a few people mention it, so I'm adding this author note after the fact. Yes, the characters are 16 years old. However, my rationale is that the game is in a medieval type setting, and in that historical era 16 was the typical age for common/non-noble woman to marry, and 17-18 years old for having her first child. Because of the much shorter life expectancy, people were expected to function pretty much like adults by the time they were hitting puberty. Given that NPCs in the game don't seem particular taken aback that the characters are traveling the world by themselves, taking "adult" jobs like being members of militias or adventuring quests or whatever, I think it is safe to assume that they're expected to be capable of most aspects of adulthood by their mid-teens, including committed romantic relationships. **


	23. Ruin Raiders and the Snow Fairy of Doom

While Fret had been sidetracked with his marriage proposal plans, Liu had been working on the next phase of the Company's campaign against the Order. Putting together the information they had, it seemed likely that the fusion of the desert world that wiped out the Magedom of Janam had brought with it a new Chronicle. Liu was nervous about it. Fret had mentioned the conversation where Dirk had told him he was just a distraction, and that combined with Dirk knowing where the team was and was waiting on them to arrive made him suspicious. He suspected that Manaril was right about the Order being able to sense the location of Chronicles as well, and his gut told him the Order Archivists were already on the hunt for the desert world Chronicle. With that in mind, he quickly organized a team to go with Luo-Tao back to the ruins of El-Qaral and see if they had any luck finding the Chronicle before the Order did.

In addition to Luo-Tao, Liu sent Hotupa for his ability to handle Infinity gateways. Mubal had mentioned there being a gateway in the basement of the Arcane Academy, and while the academy mages hadn't known how to use it, Liu knew that Hotupa would be able to if it was still there. And once Hotupa had been there, he could connect the gateway back to the one at Castle Starcache like he had to the gateway in Pharamond, speeding up future travel. Hotupa wasn't much of a fighter, but at least the big Beetle Axe he wielded looked intimidating enough.

Fret and Marica both went as well. Liu harbored no delusions that the pair was separable at this point, and he was looking forward to their wedding after they got back from this mission. Fret also insisted that Sphiel come along since he hadn't had a chance to go on a mission with the former "snow fairy" yet. So the Cherem Company troupe made their way back towards the buried mage city. Fret and Marica took up their familiar positions in the formation with him in front on the left flank and her backing him up with her Sky-Rend longbow, while Hotupa handled the front line right flank with Luo-Tao backing him up with his Beast King longbow. Sphiel marched in the back center between Marica and Luo-Tao, wielding the crazy magical broom that the witch Zenoa had given Fret as a reward after Sisuca had done such a great job cleaning the Tablet of Promise the first time Zenoa put in a mission request with Moana for the job.

The broom looked rather ridiculous to carry as a staff/weapon, but as they found out it was more potent than any other magical staff the Company had at its disposal. Fret had initially offered it up to Asad, who while grateful opted to keep the moderately weaker but infinitely more stylish Lazuli Rod he'd been given weeks earlier. The broom had become a running joke, with none of the mages wanting to carry it despite it being the most powerful staff they had. That is, until Sphiel came along. Fret offered it to her along with a moonstone necklace, and she accepted both without blinking. Then again, from what little they had learned about her, she seemed to just kind of go along in her own world most of the time without much awareness of the world around her. That was evident when Fret first met her back at the castle after Jale had recruited her. When he asked if she was sure she wanted to be a member of Cherem Company and help out against the Order, she had simply replied, "Reporting for duty!" When Fret asked her if she even knew what that meant, she admitted she didn't. But that didn't seem to bother her any, and she seemed content to hang around the castle grounds until given something to do. Fret wasn't sure how much of a wildcard Sphiel really was, but figured it was a safe enough mission to find out how well she took direction and handled herself in a battle.

* * *

The band of adventurers had barely emerged from the eastern side of Flesaria Forest when they came upon a patrol of Order conscripts. Fret squinted his eyes at the captain of the troops as the two groups approached each other, trying to see if he recognized him. Order captains were easily identifiable by the yellow uniforms they wore, in contrast to the red uniforms of the regular troops. He was kind of hoping it was their old "friend" Beardsley, though he quickly determined it wasn't. It was just a no name captain he'd never seen before.

"You guys are a long way from home. Get lost?" asked Fret sarcastically as the groups came within vocal range.

Since Cherem Company didn't bother with uniforms, it took the captain a moment to recognize the adventurers for who they were. Once he did, his eyes narrowed in anger as he sneered, "Men! These heretics are from Cherem Company! Kill them!"

The three other Order soldiers raised their swords and in unison shouted, "One World! One Future!"

Both groups fell back into fighting formations, with the exception of Sphiel since she wasn't quite sure what to do. When the Order captain glared at her, she did what came natural.

"Do you like snow?" she asked him.

"Wh-what?" responded the captain angrily, taken off guard by the question from the weird looking blue-haired girl in the shimmering blue dress that was carrying a broom for a weapon.

Sphiel sighed. "Do you like snow?" she asked again.

Luo-Tao hesitated. He had an easy shot at the distracted Order soldiers and could take one down right away, but he saw that Fret was standing with his swords in his hands at his side acting like he was struggling not to laugh, and Marica to his left was smiling as well even though she was at the ready with her bow. He decided to keep his target lined up but hold off for the moment on letting his arrow fly.

The captain had no idea how to respond, and his troops were equally confused. "Are you daft?" he sneered.

"_Uh oh, bad answer…"_ thought Fret to himself a moment before a torrential blast of water rained from above and instantly killed all three soldiers. The captain was still alive, but barely.

"Snow is great for fatigue," explained Sphiel nonchalantly to him, as if she had no concept of what she had done.

The Order captain gritted his teeth and attempted to stand before Luo-Tao let loose of the arrow he'd had at the ready. The arrow pierced the captain's throat, dropping him to his death.

Fret snickered. "I know it's wrong to laugh at people dying, even if they're the bad guys," he said. "But wow… you gotta admit that was pretty darn funny." That caused Marica to break into the giggles, and even the normally stoic Luo-Tao cracked a smile. Hotupa chuckled in spite of himself, and as the party resumed their journey, Fret took the time to explain combat formations to Sphiel and what to do when they were attacked.

* * *

For her part, Marica tried to teach Sphiel how to evaluate a threat and use the appropriate amount of force. She doubted that Sphiel had ever used her _Spear Torrent_ mark of the stars often enough to run out of magical power before. But that would be a real possibility on a long mission where they had numerous encounters with wandering beasts between opportunities to rest overnight. Sphiel looked at Marica with a completely blank expression, making it obvious she had no idea what Marica was talking about. Fortunately they made it through the wilderness to the Mislato River without a lot of encounters, so Marica had plenty of time to explain the concepts of only having so much magical power to use before having to rest overnight or use items they didn't have with them to recover it, and needing to balance the conservation of that power versus dealing with the threat they were facing. In other words, not every enemy needed a mage's most powerful mark thrown at it. Marks like _Spear Torrent _were expensive in terms of magic power. Lesser enemies could be taken down either with other marks of the stars that consumed less magic power per use, or with direct ranged attacks from the mage's staff that didn't require any magical power. Marica wasn't convinced that Sphiel understood any of it though, she could very well be talking just to hear the sound of her own voice by the way Sphiel walked along without changing expression or even nodding in acknowledgment. Ideally it wouldn't matter since they were carrying one more attacker than usual in the party, at the expense of not having a support person with them.

The trip through the desert to the buried mage city went mostly without incident. There was some brief dissension when Fret overruled an exhausted Hotupa after deciding he didn't trust Sphiel's decision making skills enough to give her a shift whenever they camped out and setup an overnight watch. That was resolved when a frustrated Fret finally declared he'd take the extra full shift rather than spreading out Sphiel's time over everyone else's shifts, which caused Marica to protest and say she'd take an extra half shift so Fret would only have an extra half shift as well. Luo-Tao said it didn't matter either way to him and he'd take whatever time they told him. At that point, faced with being the only one protesting picking up Sphiel's slack, Hotupa acquiesced and let the issue drop.

* * *

On a different day, it was quieter than usual when Marica and Fret didn't talk to each other much after getting in an argument where she griped at him for whining incessantly about how the hostile wildlife population could still be so high after they'd made multiple recent trips through the area cutting down everything in their path. She admitted she didn't understand it either, but when he wouldn't stop complaining she finally had enough and told him to shut up about it. He did, but not without scowling and pouting his way in near silence through the remainder of the day. Most of the other party members were relieved when those two were back to normal the following day, with only Sphiel being oblivious either way. But they had finally arrived at the buried mage city, where Luo-Tao, Hotupa, and Marica were in shock seeing the ruins of El-Qaral. Fret stood silently as the others talked. Having seen it before he had already been through the emotions they were experiencing, but in his mind he recommitted his vow to get Chancellor Valfred back for wiping out the Magedom. After a brief survey of the area, the team headed into the ruins of the Arcane Academy.

"I can sense a Chronicle close by," stated Luo-Tao as they made their way down the long underground stairways, which were still intact.

Fret lost count of how many flights of stairs they had gone down, but after descending one in particular he stopped abruptly, causing Marica to nearly knock him over when she collided with him from behind. "What?" she asked, a little perturbed by the sudden stop.

Pointing, Fret replied, "I don't remember that door being there before."

"Maybe it's where the Chronicle is?" suggested Hotupa.

"It is possible," offered Luo-Tao. "I can tell we are very close, even if I cannot pinpoint the exact location."

"Well, I guess we'll never know until we try the door," said Fret, grinning. Marica rolled her eyes at his well-worn mantra, while Hotupa chuckled lightly. Opening the door, the adventurers were surprised to see that there were already people inside. There was a weather-worn woman with dark brown skin accompanied by three men.

"Hey! Who are you?" asked Fret with obvious astonishment in his voice at seeing inhabitants in the room.

One of the men stepped over to them with a menacing look. "What's this? More salvagers? Don't even think about it! This is our dig, we were here first." He waved his fist at the Cherem Company party as he spoke.

"Salvagers?" remarked Fret, slightly disgusted at the revelation that these people were here pilfering the remains of an El-Qaral that had been wiped out. "We're not salvagers, and you shouldn't be doing that here anyway."

Hotupa stepped forward, holding his hands up as a sign of being non-aggressive. "We're not salvagers, but we _are_ here looking for one thing in particular. It would probably look like an old book to you. Have you seen anything like it?"

"Stand down," said the woman from behind them. "Look at them. Do you really think that bunch looks like scavengers?" The man that had been half-threatening them scoffed and backed away. "So what makes you say we shouldn't be here?" she asked. "This place has long been abandoned."

Fret sighed, and then attempted to explain how it used to be the capital of the Magedom of Janam. Naturally, the bandits didn't believe him, having never heard of a Magedom of Janam or a war against the Order of the One True Way. The woman seemed at least open to considering the idea though. She felt like there was something just beyond her memory that she wasn't able to recall. After Fret mentioned that the prince and princess of the former Magedom lived at Castle Starcache now, the woman agreed to reconsider her stance if he brought them to meet her.

"Have you guys seen the book we mentioned earlier?" asked Marica, anxious to get the conversation back on track. "It's really important that we get it before the Order does. It would be really bad for our world here if they get a hold of it."

The woman looked at Marica thoughtfully. "Well, I'm still skeptical about all this, but for what it's worth I give you my word that we haven't found a book like you're describing. There are some rooms below this one we haven't fully checked out, you might try there."

Thanking her and promising to bring back Shams and Manaril to see her, Fret had a thought as they were leaving.

"Hey," he said. "I didn't get your name earlier. What do we call you?"

"Nofret," she replied plainly.

"Huh?" he asked, perplexed. "Why won't you tell me your name?"

"And how did you know his name?" asked Marica, rather suspicious of the woman now.

"Nofret," the woman repeated. "And I have no idea what you're talking about."

"What do you mean no? I'm just asking you to tell us your name," replied Fret.

"Nofret!" exclaimed the woman, baffled by the reactions she was getting. "What's so hard to understand?"

Fret glanced around at his equally confused friends. "What's so hard to understand is why you won't tell us your name. Is it that big of a deal? And like Marica asked, how did you know my name if you claim not to know anything about us or our battle with the Order?"

"What makes you think I know your name?" answered Nofret, exasperated. "You keep asking me my name and I keep telling you! I don't know what your problem is?"

"If you don't know my name, how come you keep answering 'No, Fret'?"

"Because-"

"Oh! Wait!" interjected Hotupa, interrupting Nofret from answering. As everyone turned towards him following his sudden outburst, Hotupa began chuckling and then finally broke down into full blown laughter. The others stared at him with both confusion and impatience, waiting for him to continue. Catching his breath, Hotupa spoke. "I think I've got it. Ma'am, are you saying that your name is 'Nofret'?"

"I think I've made that abundantly clear," she replied, still rather annoyed.

"Ohhhhh!" exclaimed Fret and Marica in unison, beginning to giggle. As an irritated Nofret glared at the two of them, Hotupa continued. "Miss Nofret, let me introduce you to the leader of Cherem Company- Fret."

Nofret's eyes widened, then she started to laugh herself as realization of what was causing the confusion set in. "Fret and Nofret, eh? No wonder you guys were bewildered!"

Still giggling as they left, the Cherem Company adventurers headed down to the lower level and into the room where Mubal had said they would find the gateway.

* * *

"Well, well…" a smug female voice spoke out. "I was wondering when you would finally get here."

"Ugh!" exclaimed Fret, instantly recognizing the Order Archivist Diadora upon sight. "You!"

The older woman peered down at the group over the top of her glasses. Running a hand through her shortly cropped blonde hair, she defiantly stated, "You're too late for the Chronicle, it has already been delivered to Chancellor Valfred."

"You lie," scowled Luo-Tao, I can sense the very strong presence of a Chronicle, it must be in this room right now."

Diadora arched her eyebrows in surprise at Luo-Tao's remark. "Ahhh… I must have one of the famed Scribes in my presence," she replied before chiding him. "A shame your tribe chooses to remain ignorant of the Truth." Demonstrably tapping her staff on the ground, she smugly added, "The Chronicle of Endless Travels, I've had it for quite some time now. It is not the Chronicle you came seeking."

"Truth?" screamed Fret. "Like how you wiped away millions of lives as if they never existed? Like the millions of innocent people in the Magedom of Janam that you just made conveniently go away?"

Diadora frowned. While Chancellor Valfred had told her that directing the world fusion to the Magedom was an unavoidable necessity because they, along with Cherem Company, were going to launch a military offensive against them, she still had her doubts. Up until then their influence over fusion locations had been limited to pushing them away from populated areas. "I…" she began. "I can see why it is difficult for you to understand. But you must see that we did it to save lives!" Diadora was practically pleading, as much trying to convince herself as to convince the others.

"Save lives?" shouted Fret incredulously. "Why should I believe that erasing the Magedom was anything other than you guys eliminating those with enough strength to resist a hostile takeover?"

"It was for the good of everyone! Only those who accept a predetermined future can be saved when the One King descends on this world!" screeched Diadora. "You must stop fighting us!"

"A future where my own thoughts and feelings are worthless? A future where you tell me who I'm going to love, who my friends will be, what job I'll have, where I'll live, where _you _control everything about _me_? I'll die before I live as a prisoner in your predetermined world. And _that_ is why we fight!" declared Fret, deriding everything the Order stood for.

Diadora sighed. "It is a shame that you leave me with no other choice." Waving her staff, Diadora opened four portals around her. Out of two of them stepped Order soldiers, and out of the other two stepped hideous creatures called General Guts. Diadora stepped back as her four new companions took up positions in front of her.

Before the Cherem Company group could fully get into a fighting formation, Diadora launched a _Sleep Frost_ mark of the stars against Sphiel that knocked her down and succeeded in putting her to sleep. Unsheathing his blades as he ran forward, Fret activated his _Masterpiece_ mark and launched himself into the air towards a one of the General Guts. He landed a critical blow, then spun around and followed up with a dual chopping attack that sliced open the creature's chest and caused its sticky green blood to begin oozing from the wounds.

Hotupa was tied up with an Order soldier, trying to block the soldier's sword attack with his cumbersome oversized axe. The soldier managed to get through his defenses and cut through the right arm of his leather armor, scoring flesh with his strike. Hotupa grimaced as grabbed his arm. Needing his dominant arm at full strength to wield the big axe, he opted to suck down a mega medicine and heal rather than attack right away.

Marica and Luo-Tao both launched a volley of arrows at the General Guts that Fret had weakened, managing to finish it off. The other General Guts slid forward to take the place of its fallen brethren. Fret began the next round with a _flame vortex_ attack against the Order soldier across from him, causing the young man to scream out in agony as he was pelted by the small fiery meteors and set afire. As he was trying to extinguish his burning armor, Marica hit him with an arrow while Hotupa leapt forward and swept his axe through in a wide arc. The momentum of the heavy axe with its razor sharp blade cleaved the soldier almost in two at the waist. Even though Hotupa had to wrench the axe back out, it penetrated plenty deep enough to sever the soldier's spinal cord and drop him to his death.

The remaining General Guts attacked Hotupa, charging into the less than agile Wanderer and knocking him sprawling back on his rear. The fall caused his axe to fly out of his hands and slide across the floor. Fret tried to quickly retrieve the axe, but before he could take more than a couple of steps he was hit hard by Diadora's _sleep frost_. He lost consciousness as he hit the ground. Marica swore angrily, not just because Fret had gotten knocked out, but because the party didn't have any items with them to deal with it during the battle, and because the only support person who could deal with it, Eunice, wasn't with them. Marica activated her _spear downpour_ mark. It was a lesser mark than Sphiel's _spear torrent_, but it would still do a healthy amount of damage to all of their enemies. It knocked back the offensively strong but defensively weak Diadora, and hurt the remaining Order soldier and General Guts.

Luo-Tao used his _healing wave_ mark, healing Fret of his injuries but not waking him up, and healing Hotupa. The General Guts attacked Hotupa again, hurting him even worse than before since Hotupa didn't have his axe to parry with. The General Guts finished his attack with a head butt that broke Hotupa's glasses even before they went flying from his face. Hotupa groaned as he fell again, reaching up and feeling his bloody face where his glasses had been smashed and cut him. Luo-Tao took another shot at the General Guts to try to get him off of Hotupa, hitting it in what passed for its shoulder and causing it to howl in pain as it retreated.

The remaining Order soldier licked his chops at the young Cherem Company leader lying in front of him, fast asleep courtesy of the Archivist's previous attack. This was his chance to extract some vengeance on his enemy, not only for himself, but for his many fallen Order brothers. Growling, he started forward at Fret while raising his sword, fully intent on decapitating him in his slumber. Marica gasped as she saw what was about to happen, and leapt forward to defend her love. She intercepted the soldier's accelerating blade with her bow, causing it to harmlessly glance off the iron like wood. Marica realized she didn't have a lot of counterattacking options at close range, so she improvised by grabbing an arrow from her quiver and attempted to stab the soldier with it. However, she was not able to hit him hard enough to penetrate his armor, and the soldier retaliated by chopping down at her with his sword. She again blocked with her bow, but not having a two handed grip this time she lost her grip on it from the force of the collision. As the bow spun out of her hand she reached out wildly and managed to hook it on her forearm by the bowstring before it fell to the ground. The soldier followed up with a kick to her sternum that sent her stumbling back and falling while also knocking the wind out of her.

Grinning arrogantly at the enemy party in disarray, the Order soldier stared cruelly into Marica's eyes as he viciously drove the tip of his sword down into Fret's stomach, impaling him with it. She fought to keep her emotions in check as she scurried to detangle from her bow and get a shot ready while at the same time trying to catch her breath. Watching her, the soldier ripped his blade from Fret and stepped on his chest and over him as he marched quickly towards Marica. Fret gasped in pain as he awoke from the attack, clutching his stomach and feeling the stickiness of his own blood coating his hand and forearm. Luo-Tao threw another _healing wave_, which sealed up Fret's wound and restored enough strength for him to get up, while also healing Hotupa and Marica.

Fret scrambled to his feet just in time to turn around and see the Order soldier slashing down repeatedly at Marica, who was doing all she could to parry the attacks with her bow and keep from getting knocked back down to where she'd be defenseless. Marica caught Fret out of the corner of her eye and stole a quick glance at him. The soldier noticed this and spun around quickly, expecting an attack. As the soldier turned, Fret took the black blade in his right hand and threw it forward end over end at him. The throw was true, hitting the soldier who wasn't anticipating a sword being thrown at him at the base of the throat before he could block it. Unfortunately for Fret, it was the hilt end of the sword that found its mark. The force of impact was still enough to momentarily stun the soldier, who staggered briefly while grasping at his throat. The distraction was enough for Marica though, who hastily notched a pair of arrows on her bow and buried them into the soldier's spinal column at point blank range. As the soldier dropped to his knees with his mouth wide open in shock, Marica picked up Fret's thrown blade and slashed as she spun around, cutting deeply into the soldier's throat and ending his life.

Diadora had taken notice of Luo-Tao healing the other party members, so she targeted him for her next attack. She threw her most powerful mark at him, _Gate to Nowhere_, with the intent of killing him off in one shot. A blue and white swirling glow encompassed him, speeding up until it culminated in a bright flash. But much to Diadora's dismay, Luo-Tao was still standing there. Not only that, but sleep had just worn off the blue haired mage with the broom. She grunted in frustration. Not two minutes earlier it clearly looked like she was going to win, but here she was down to one badly wounded General Guts and herself against all five Cherem Company members.

Diadora felt somewhat detached as she watched what was taking place in front of her. The panting young man pointed in the direction of Diadora and rather oddly said to the mage, "Give that bitch some snow to eat!" Those were the last words she heard before waking up days later in the medical clinic at Castle Starcache.


	24. Death before Marriage

Rubbing the haze of sleep from his eyes, Fret groggily looked up to see Marica sitting cross-legged on the bed, smiling at him. Smiling sleepily back at her, he slurred "G'mornin… Whazzup?"

Marica giggled softly. "I'm not sure _you_ are yet. You know, you look so content when you sleep, like you don't have a care in the world."

Still lying on his back, Fret blinked his eyes a few times before propping himself up on his elbows. "Huh? You were watchin' me sleep? That's gotta be 'bout as much fun as watchin' paint dry."

"It's not like I've been doing it for hours! I came back to the room after my shower and figured you'd be awake soon. So I sat down here and thought about things while watching you."

"Yeah? What kinda things?"

Marica giggled again before softly replying, "Oh, you know, mostly silly girl things. Like how this is the last day I'll wake up an unmarried woman, for hopefully the rest of my life."

Fret eyed Marica with concern. "Does that bother you? Are you having second thoughts about getting married so quickly?"

Marica smirked. "I think you missed the part where I said, 'for hopefully the rest of my life'. It doesn't feel like we went too fast to me, maybe because I've known you my whole life."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," replied Fret, deftly recovering from the momentary panic attack. "The way we see each other emotionally or whatever may have only changed recently, but we've been close for… well, pretty much forever."

"Right! So it's not like going from friendship love to romantic love meant we had to start all over getting to know each other. It's just added something on top an already strong relationship."

Fret nodded in agreement. "So…" he asked coyly, "how are you going to spend your last day as a free woman? You've only got about 8 hours until the wedding."

Grinning deviously, Marica replied, "I was thinking of spending some quality time attacking you with a knife."

"Wh-What?" asked Fret, staring wide-eyed at her. The reaction was just what Marica was going for, and she laughed.

"I know that calls for an explanation, but I'm going to pull one of _your _tricks and make you wait!" she replied, laughing again. "So go take a shower and meet me downstairs in the tavern, it's still early enough for breakfast. I want to talk to Erin anyway, so I'll do that while waiting on you to get down there."

"Grumble, grumble, grumble…" said Fret, mock pouting. "Sounds like I'd better borrow some chainmail before I see you again."

Giggling, Marica shook her head. "Nah, just bring your old leather armor and gloves with you. Not what you're wearing tonight, but your old stuff."

He raised an eyebrow quizzically at her before cracking a big smile. He didn't know what exactly she was up to, but he didn't at all mind playing along with her game and being kept in suspense. He thought it was nice for a change to have it done to him rather than it being the other way around.

* * *

Fret strolled into the tavern about 30 minutes later. Seeing Marica and Erin sitting at a table talking, he grabbed a plate of food from the buffet and went over to join them.

"Hey Fret!" said Erin, smiling as she greeted him. "All ready for the big event tonight?"

Grinning as he sat down, Fret answered, "I thought I was, but last I heard I might not be alive to be there."

Sliding over the carafe of juice to him, Erin giggled. "Yeah, so I heard. Good luck with that! I guess the show must go on though, so if you don't make it I'm sure we can find a suitable replacement to marry her." Marica joined her in the giggles as Fret pretended to sulk. The friends made small talk while Marica and Fret finished eating, then Erin excused herself and took their dishes to the back room to be washed.

Fret grinned at Marica silently, expectantly. She got the hint. "So you want to know what I've been keeping you in suspense about?" she asked, smiling.

Rather than say anything, he just nodded his head up and down in an exaggerated manner, still with the same lopsided grin on his face. This caused Marica to burst out laughing.

"Okay, okay! But you have to stop being silly now, I actually have something serious to talk about in relation to this."

Reaching across the table, Fret took Marica's hands in his. "What's up?" he asked with concern in his voice. Marica sighed, pulling her hands away from his long enough to reach down beside her and pickup her equipment pack. Opening up the pack, she produced two packages and set one down in front of her while sliding the other across to Fret. He opened his up to reveal a pair of 7 inch long leather scabbards with 5 inch ebony ironwood handles protruding from the ends. Looking up questioningly at Marica, he grasped the handle on one and unsheathed it, gasping in astonishment at the black blade that came into view.

"W-wow! These are kinda like mini versions of the black blade swords!" He flipped the knife around in his hand, whistling appreciatively at the quality of the workmanship and the perfectly balanced feel. He noted that while the black knives were made from the same lightweight but very hardened/durable steel as the black blades Gadburg produced, they differed in one key way. The black blades were single edged with an angular tip, designed more for slashing attacks than thrusts/stabs. The black knives were double edged and the tip was centered, making them well suited for close combat.

"Yep!" said Marica, smiling proudly. She added, "Consider it my wedding gift to you," as she opened her package to display an identical pair of knives. "Currently these are the only four in existence, but Gadburg was so impressed with my design concept and how well they turned out that he's going to forge more and carry them in his shop, just like the black blades."

"That's really cool!" exclaimed Fret.

"Not only that, but these scabbards are designed to attach to the side of your boots for easy carrying and access. Gadburg said he was going to make different styles of scabbards for them so people can also choose to carry the knives on their belts or across their chest or wherever, but I figured for our purposes attaching to our boots made the most sense."

"These are awesome, Marica! I don't know what to say." Pausing momentarily, he thought of something and asked, "What made you think to do something like this by the way?"

Marica chewed on her bottom lip as her mind flashed back. "Fret," she said softly. "You want to know what to say?" She glanced down at her hands resting on the table, avoiding eye contact. "Say you'll train me in melee fighting with them."

Fret set the knives down and took her hands again. Looking into her eyes he recognized that there was something really bothering her. "Hey…" he whispered. "Talk to me… what's going on?"

Marica looked back up at Fret, seeing the loving concern in his eyes. It wasn't that she was afraid to tell him, she knew she could tell him anything. What made her hesitate was her own pride. She didn't like admitting to herself that despite being a seasoned veteran when it came to battle, she had a serious shortcoming that could prove fatal if not addressed. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled and began to explain what had been troubling her. How in their last battle she'd been caught in a situation where after the enemies had disabled Fret and Hotupa on the front row, she'd gotten charged by one of the soldiers. When that happened it was all she could do defend against the attacks with her bow. She told Fret how she couldn't fight back at close range, how she tried to improvise by stabbing with an arrow in her hand, but she couldn't generate enough power to do any damage. How even while defending as tenaciously as she could, she had thought for sure she was only moments away from dying. With her voice wavering, Marica explained that she knew it was only because Fret came to and distracted the soldier long enough for Marica to shoot him from behind that she was still alive.

He gently suggested that she might be overreacting a bit, that they probably would have won the battle anyway and been able to bring her back. She strongly disagreed, and seeing the intensity of her emotions in her eyes he backed down, simply nodding for her to continue. Marica then explained that while replaying the battle over and over in her mind afterwards, it also struck her that when Fret threw his sword at the soldier, even though it was the hilt side that hit the soldier and it didn't really hurt him any, it was dumb luck that Fret even hit him at all. Her point was that Fret wasn't equipped to fight ranged if the situation prevented him from using _flame vortex_, his only ranged mark of the stars.

Fret nodded in agreement with her analysis of the situation. He didn't agree that the actual situation in the battle was as dire as she made it out to be, but he could see why she thought it was. He agreed completely though with her assessment of their weaknesses and in the wisdom of doing something about it.

"Gotcha…" he finally said in understanding. "So you wanna train in knife fighting so if the situation comes up again you'll be prepared."

"Not only that," she replied, looking intently into his eyes. "I specifically gave Gadburg the requirement that these knives would also be balanced for throwing. So I want _you_ to train with one of the Starbearers that uses throwing knives."

Fret rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Makes sense, we could both stand to have other options available if needed. Since you got yourself a pair of knives, I assume you want to dual wield?"

Marica nodded, grinning. "And there's no one better to train me in that than you."

Shaking his head, Fret countered, "Fighting with knives is a bit different than swordplay. We'd probably be better off having someone else train you."

"What are you talking about?" challenged Marica. "You're the most qualified person here!"

"You'd be better off with someone who has more formal teaching experience as well. Maybe Meruvis, or that old blademaster Mourgent."

Marica scoffed, getting irritated. "What's your problem? Why are you afraid to even try?" she demanded.

"I just want you to have the best trainer possible, and I don't think that's me. Remember when we were 11 and I tried to teach you how to use a staff? You nearly knocked yourself out and it took a week for the nasty purple bruise on your forehead to heal!"

Rolling her eyes, Marica argued back. "You weren't teaching me how to _use_ a staff, we were goofing around and you were trying to teach me how to do _tricks_ with a staff, when I didn't even have the basics down! That's hardly the same thing as this."

"I'm not even the best swordsman-"

"Shut. up." growled Marica, her nostrils flaring with anger. "There is _no one _better than you with a pair of blades, so don't give me that crap!"

Fret sighed. "I appreciate your confidence in me, but Meruvis and Chrodechild for sure are both better than me."

Marica punched Fret in the arm. "Ouch!" he exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"You think they're better than you, huh? You wanna know what _they_ said about _you_?" _They_ said they were amazed by _you_! That _you_ 'had the stuff legends are made of'!"

"Wh-what?" asked Fret, wide-eyed in astonishment. "Wh-when was that?"

"Back at the Blades Outpost in El-Qaral right after Chrodechild gave you her blade, when we were all watching you fly through your dual wielding forms in a blur." Smirking, she added, "I made them promise not to tell you that, that you were cocky enough as it was. And look how long ago that was and how much better you are now than you were then!"

Fret gulped, caught off guard and not knowing what to say. Marica sensed this, and drove her point home. "Fret," she said sternly, "you _are_ the best. And you know me so much better than any other trainer would."

"You're sure about this then?" he asked softly, with an expression of sincere humility.

Marica smiled, she found his expression adorable. "I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't."

Returning the smile, he nodded. "Let's go outside and get started then."

As the pair got up from the table and walked towards the north castle doors, Fret grabbed Marica by the arm and pulled her to face him. She looked at him, startled and confused by his action. He brushed aside a stray lock of hair from her face with his hand while leaning in and kissing her on the cheek. He whispered softly in her ear, "I'm sorry."

Marica pulled back and looked at him, surprised. "Why?" she asked.

"It was incredibly thoughtful of you to have the knives made. But instead of showing you how much I appreciated it, I just pissed you off by resisting your request."

"Well… I'm sorry too for snapping at you. I-I know you were only thinking about what was best for me." She leaned back in and briefly kissed him on the lips. "You're as sweet as you taste," she said after tasting the juice he'd been drinking on his lips, giggling at her own silly joke.

Fret chuckled. "I'm really looking forward to being married to you, you know?"

Grinning at him mischievously, she replied in a mock accusatory tone, "Yeah, whatever. You're just looking forward to finally getting to have sex."

"The thought never crossed my mind," he deadpanned, trying to maintain a straight face. But Marica was better at verbal jousting than he was.

"Oh, yeah?" she asked, smirking. "Well that's good, it won't bother you then when you don't get any." Her expression caused him to burst out laughing.

"Okay, okay! You win!" he exclaimed while laughing, causing her to laugh as well.

"Don't worry," she said quietly, "I'm looking forward to that part too." Grinning deviously, she added, "You know, assuming you survive knife training and make it to the altar." The two laughed together as they made their way outside.

* * *

Shortly after they got outside, Fret changed his mind about starting off Marica's training using the razor sharp black knives. He ran back inside and procured some cheap bone daggers from Gadburg to practice with, having him also grind down the edges to make them dull. The bone daggers were a little longer than the knives, but they were more suitable for learning and practicing the basics without getting someone hurt.

In the time they'd been outside, Fret had taught her a basic style of dual wielding one handed weapons. The concepts were remarkably similar to what Dirk had taught him as a kid, a thought that didn't escape his notice. He began each new technique with a demonstration that Marica would repeat in slow motion until she had the muscle movements down pat, and then gradually increasing the tempo until she was moving at full speed. For the initial session he stuck with the simple hammer grip, and focused on coordinating her hands to defend with one blade while attacking with the other. He also taught techniques that maximized the advantage of her dexterity while minimizing the disadvantage of physical strength. In doing so he emphasized the importance of footwork to defend through deflection and avoidance rather than outright parrying, where she could be overpowered by a stronger attacker and knocked off balance, and to attack through flanking and backstabbing.

She asked him if he ever let the opponent dictate what tactics he used, and he explained that he did, that the flexibility to switch between different styles on the fly in a battle was one of his biggest strengths. He told her that with practice and experience she'd be able to do the same thing, but starting off she needed to work on gaining mastery of one fighting style before trying to add another to her repertoire. He didn't want to throw too much at her at once, and explained that as she progressed in the coming weeks they'd get into more advanced techniques for attacking with both blades simultaneously, using spins and jumps, handling the blades with different grips, fighting against more than one opponent at the same time, and so on.

A few hours after they began, Fret and Marica sat down panting on the grassy ground under the hot mid-day sun, pouring sweat but finding the fatigue satisfying. Being close to the castle, their lengthy workout was witnessed in passing by various Starbearers throughout the afternoon, and seeing the two sitting down taking a break, the Dromon Pirates walked over to say hello.

"Shouldn't you two be getting ready for a wedding?" asked Felecca, laughing lightly while swinging her shoulder length red hair out of her eyes.

"Aye, mates! Unless this is yer idear of foreplay!" added the eldest pirate, Dromon, roaring boisterously with laughter at his own joke. Fret chuckled politely while Marica just rolled her eyes.

"Come on, brother, behave." said Xebec, sighing at his older brother's lack of manners. Xebec was the youngest of the pirates, but he was very intelligent and had a keen eye. He noted, "Marica usually fights with a bow. I'm guessing she's just picking up some new skills."

Marica nodded in the affirmative, and had a thought. "Hey Xebec, you're a knife thrower right? I got Fret a couple of knives for that purpose, think you can teach him how to do it?"

Xebec looked thoughtfully at her. "Sure, I don't see why not. When do you want to do it?"

Marica looked over at Fret. "You guys probably have about an hour before you'll need to head in to start getting ready." Grinning, she added, "I can barely lift my arms at this point, so I think I'm done anyway."

Fret laughed. "Sounds good then. Let's go over to the archery range, we can throw at the wooden targets there."

* * *

"Okay, Fret," said Xebec, standing behind his new student. "The easiest way to do this is for you to show me what you've got, then we'll go from there."

Fret shrugged, taking one of his black knives in his hand by the hilt. He eyed the target about 7 meters away for a moment before cocking his arm and firing. Much to everyone's surprise, the tip of the knife embedded itself in the wooden target with a loud satisfying _thunk_.

"Yes!" shouted Fret, strutting proudly and drawing laughs. "Who needs training?"

"One lucky throw doesn't make you a pro!" exclaimed Marica, chiding him half-heartedly.

Xebec winked at Marica as if to silently say, _"let me prove that to him." _"Okay," he said, pointing to a spot about a meter in front of where Fret had made his previous throw. "Stand here and try again."

Fret moved up a little closer like Xebec requested, and threw his other knife. This time the knife hit parallel to the target and ricocheted off with a clang. Fret frowned while Xebec went over and retrieved the knife and brought it back to Fret.

"Now, this time _carefully_ hold the knife by the blade instead of the hilt and try again," ordered Xebec.

Fret did as instructed, and was rewarded with another solid stick in the target. He grinned in satisfaction at the result.

"So… tell me what you just learned," said Xebec, looking at Fret expectantly.

"That this is a little harder than I may have thought?" offered Fret, drawing chuckles from the others.

"Maybe so," replied Xebec. "Let me ask it a different way. Why did your second throw miss but your third throw hit from the same distance?"

Fret rubbed his chin as he thought about it for a moment. "Well, the difference between the two throws was how I held the knife. But I held it the same on the first and second throw and one hit but the other missed."

"The distance changed though," noted Marica.

"Exactly right, both of you," pointed out Xebec, explaining, "Knife throwing is all about revolutions and distance. It just happened to work out on the first throw that you were at the right distance for the knife to make enough full revolutions in the air to impact the target tip first. When you moved a little closer and made the same throw, the knife didn't have time to complete the last rotation before it hit. By trying again with the opposite grip, you cut down the number of rotations the knife needed to make by a half turn, which let it impact tip first that time."

"So how do I know when to use which grip?" asked Fret, confused.

Xebec smiled. "I think you already know the answer to that, Fret."

"Practice…" replied Fret, chuckling.

"Yup! But while figuring out your distances is something you'll have to do on your own, there are some different throwing techniques and drills I can show you to work on. They'll help make sure you are throwing consistently each time. Because even if you know what your distances are, you won't stick the target every time if your speed and revolutions vary from throw to throw."

Fret nodded respectfully, impressed with Xebec's knowledge of the subject. Marica excused herself to start getting ready, lamenting that she knew Sisuca would take forever on her hair and makeup again, but leaving her knives with Fret so he could make more throws without having to retrieve them while practicing. Fret and Xebec worked together for about an hour before Fret thanked Xebec and went back into the castle to start getting himself ready for his wedding.


	25. Bringing Worlds Together

Fret paced his room, debating on whether or not he should make his way down the hall to the Grand Hall at the other end of the 4th floor, where the wedding and reception was being held. He had to admit that he was kind of anxious. There wasn't any anxiety about marrying Marica, but he wasn't terribly excited about being the center of attention of a large group of people for a few hours. He'd gotten comfortable with the notion that the other Starbearers looked towards him to make a speech before a key battle or whatever, but those situations were about everyone. Tonight was different, it was only about him and Marica. He knew it was still about 45 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start, but he figured people would already be congregating in the Grand Hall. He knew that tradition dictated that Marica wouldn't be led into the hall until a few minutes before the ceremony was to start, so to a large degree the responsibility to meet and greet fell to him. Fret finally decided that he'd probably be better of going now and mingling rather than pacing and dwelling on it, so he took one last look at himself in the mirror and headed down.

* * *

Walking towards the Grand Hall, Fret ran into Sisuca, who was on her way up. She beamed in excitement. "Oh, Fret, I'm sooo happy for my babies! She's all ready to be brought up here when it's time."

Fret grinned. "How's she doing? She getting nervous or anything?"

Sisuca laughed. "I think only about having everyone watching her."

"Yeah, I know the feeling…" muttered Fret.

Sisuca and Fret entered the Grand Hall together, taking a look around the room to see who all was here already. Sisuca suddenly gasped loudly.

"Wh-what?" asked Fret, noticing Sisuca trembling. "Something wrong?"

Sisuca broke into a dead sprint across the hall. Fret's eyes followed to where she was heading, where he saw Elder Rajim talking to the other Marica and, well, Elder Rajim. He made the connection that the other Marica had come and had brought her dad from that world with her, and laughed thinking that Sisuca just wasn't used to seeing their counterparts from other worlds. He'd never met the other Elder Rajim yet himself, but it made sense to him that there was one. Fret had just started walking over towards the group, when he heard Sisuca shout, "Mom!" and begin to bawl. Confused, he picked up the pace and got over there to see what the commotion was about.

The other Elder Rajim and the lady with him looked startled. Elder Rajim knew what Sisuca was experiencing right now, he himself had gone through the same emotions not even 15 minutes earlier when Erin had led the other Elder Rajim, the other Marica, and the lady with them into the Grand Hall. Rajim thought he was seeing a ghost, and his heart nearly stopped. The lady was the spitting image of his wife, Bria, only aged slightly from the 15 years she'd been gone. After a brief display of emotion upon meeting his counterpart, he found out that it was in fact Bria, or at least his wife's counterpart from the other world. Rajim learned that in the other world she hadn't died like she had in this world. He had a hard time getting his mind wrapped around that concept, but he accepted it to be true nonetheless. He jokingly told the other Elder Rajim and Bria that they would need to forgive him if he was staring at her throughout the evening. Given the circumstances they understood, and assured him that it was quite alright.

At Sisuca's reaction, Elder Rajim explained to the guests from the other world that this was his daughter Sisuca, who was old enough when his Bria died to have remembered what she looked like. Upon hearing the name 'Sisuca', it was the other Elder Rajim and Bria's turn to gasp in shock, and Bria burst into tears of her own. The other Elder Rajim explained that their daughter Sisuca had died only a few seasons after childbirth. In their world, Marica was their only living child and they had never met a counterpart to Fret. So as stunning as it was for Rajim and Sisuca to see Bria alive and in the flesh, it was equally stunning for the other Elder Rajim and Bria to see a living, fully grown Sisuca. The tears flowed all around while they talked about the differences in their lives between the two worlds. Each of them was sad for their own loss, but happy to see who they had lost was alive and well in the other world. They promised to visit each other on a regular basis now that they knew each other and how to get together through the gateways.

While they were talking, Jale walked over and stood next to the other Marica. Fret noticed he had a weird braid in his hair. "Hey Jale, what's up with the hair?" he asked, grinning at him. "Going with a new look?"

Jale raised an eyebrow quizzically at him. "Do I know you?"

"Uhhh… you get an early start on the alcohol, buddy? We've been best friends our whole lives."

The other Marica had been trying to stifle her giggles, but lost her fight with them and started cackling gleefully. Seeing her reaction, it dawned on Fret that he'd been had.

"Ahhh!" he exclaimed, laughing. "I get it now! You're not the Jale from this world!"

Jale nodded, smiling slightly. "Marica here came over to my village and found me, and explained what was going on and asked if I wanted to come along and meet you all."

"Cool! Have you met our Jale yet?"

The other Jale shook his head. Smirking, he said, "Not yet, though from seeing how much the two Elder Rajims here look alike I think it's going to be a little weirder seeing myself than I was expecting."

"No kidding," replied Fret. "I can tell you that I had no idea you weren't the Jale from here. Other than your braid you look identical."

Jale and Liu entered the hall, both looking uncomfortable at being dressed up. "Uhhh… hey Jale, isn't that over there… well, you?" asked Liu, pointing to where Fret and the other Jale were standing with the others.

Jale chuckled. "The other Marica mentioned back when we first met her that she thought she had seen someone that looked like me in the next village over from where she lived. I guess she tracked him down and brought him with her."

"Well, we'd better go say hi," said Liu, grinning. "Besides, I can't wait to watch you have a conversation with yourself."

* * *

After Jale and Liu came over and joined in the discussion, Fret excused himself to mingle with the rest of the crowd. He saw Erin bring in their friend Atrie, who was from a different world than even the other Marica. Fret looked at Atrie questioningly when he saw Atrie carrying a long thin gift wrapped box, but Atrie laughed and told him he'd have to wait until the reception to get his present. Fret continued to make the rounds greeting people until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Elder Rajim.

"I am going downstairs to get Marica," he explained. "We will be ready to begin in about 10 minutes."

Fret took a deep breath and nodded, exhaling slowly. It was almost time.

* * *

The wedding procession had gone smoothly enough, and Fret found himself standing before his bride to be on the stage in the Grand Hall, her hands in his. Standing to his left and back from him were Jale and Liu, and standing right and back of Marica were Sisuca and Erin. To Fret's right and Marica's left was Elder Rajim, who would be conducting the ceremony, as he traditionally would as village elder back home in Citro Village.

"Hey, princess," whispered Fret, grinning from ear to ear. He knew the crystal tiara she wore in addition to the veil was Sisuca's touch, and he couldn't resist just a little teasing.

Marica smirked, glad that with her veil Fret was the only one who could see her facial expression. She whispered back to him with mock sweetness, "Call me that again and I'll deck you here in front of everyone. The tiara wasn't _my _idea."

"Maybe not, but you look amazing. Seriously."

"Yeah, well… don't think that redeems you for the 'princess' comment." Fret felt the corners of his lips quiver as he struggled not to crack up. Fortunately Elder Rajim bailed him out by beginning to speak, prompting Fret and Marica to turn and face him.

The ceremony itself only lasted about 20 minutes. It began with Elder Rajim speaking briefly on the symbolism and meaning of marriage itself. After that he spoke for about 5 minutes each on Fret's and Marica's lives individually, relating a story about each of them that he felt best illustrated who they are as people, drawing laughter from the crowd and slight embarrassment from the couple. He then talked briefly about their future together, and finally led them through the exchanging of vows and rings. Fret had left the rings to Marica, who worked with Erin and Gorno to come up with a design that was as practical to wear in their daily lives as they were fashionable. This was the first time he had seen them, and he smiled fondly at how they turned out. Both of their rings were platinum bands, highly polished to a mirror shine. Embedded flush with the surface and hugging the curved contours of each band were thin cross cut diagonal lines of moonlight and sunlight stone. His ring was wider than hers, but anyone looking at the pair would see them immediately as a matched set. Fret thought he felt something briefly surge through him after Marica had placed his ring on his finger, and he felt even more bonded to her than before. He figured it was the emotion of the moment and smiled even wider.

Rajim concluded by presenting the newly married couple to the cheers of a crowded hall of Starbearers and friends. Fret lifted Marica's veil, and the raw emotion he saw in her eyes nearly caused him to choke up as well. As if reading each other's thoughts, they both whispered 'I love you' simultaneously as they leaned in and shared their first kiss as husband and wife, an action which brought even more cheers from the crowd. With the ceremony out of the way, the celebration began and carried on well into the night.

* * *

It was nearly midnight when Fret and Marica finally left the Grand Hall and made their way down the hallway to their room at the other end, walking together in blissful silence with Marica holding his arm and resting her head on his shoulder. It hadn't been their intent for the reception to run so late, but they had completely lost track of time. There were still a dozen or so Starbearers in the Grand Hall keeping the party going, even after Fret and Marica said their goodnights. The evening was one they'd never forget, visiting with friends both new and old, even a group of people from Citro Village had made the trip up to Castle Starcache for the wedding.

The couple was overwhelmed by the many gifts and well wishes they received. Among the gifts was a powerful God-Beast Sword from their friend Atrie, who explained it was previously a gift to him from the person who used to live at the castle before the Flesaria Forest world fusion, and he wanted Fret to have it now. When Atrie said he'd have to come back some other time to see Fret in action with the sword, Fret told him that whenever he wanted to come back they could go down to the castle basement and take on some dream beasts from Nazhut's machine. Another gift was a specially engraved Sprite Bow from the tribe of the Scribes, which was enchanted to boost the wielder's magic power in addition to having a strong physical attack. On behalf of the people of Pharamond, Chrodechild presented Fret with a matched pair of master crafted Scale Swords, with razor sharp blades made from silver dragon scales. He jokingly asked for forgiveness in advance for retiring his black blades in favor of these new scale swords, but she assured him it was quite alright and that she was flattered that he planned to continue honoring her and Astrasia in his choice of weapons. Chrodechild also presented Marica with a pair of 18 inch Ruby Daggers, explaining that she knew Marica wanted to become proficient in melee fighting and these would give her another option to go with her 12 inch knives. Additionally, the ruby daggers were enchanted to boost her magic abilities.

Later on in the evening the master artisan Gorno came up to Fret and Marica and asked them how they liked their wedding rings. After they replied that they loved them, that they had turned out great, Gorno cryptically asked if they felt any different. Fret replied that after Marica slid the ring on his finger he felt a weird surge, like he felt more closely bonded to her, but he assumed it was the emotion of the moment. Marica nodded, saying she'd felt something similar. Gorno let out a boisterous laugh in response, confusing the two newlyweds further. He then explained that he infused the rings with something special that he'd only done for one other couple – the ability for them to perform a unite attack in battle, fittingly called 'Husband and Wife'. Fret and Marica were floored by that, causing Gorno to laugh even louder at their speechlessness. There were numerous other gifts also, as almost every group did or got something special for them. The newlyweds thanked everyone profusely, humbled by the generosity.

* * *

Fret led Marica through the door to their room, closing it behind him as he sighed contently and started ridding himself of his formal attire. Marica knew he didn't care for getting all dressed up, but seeing him toss his cape barely 10 seconds after they'd entered the room, she couldn't help but tease him.

"Well aren't you in a big hurry to get undressed?" she asked, smirking at him.

Fret chuckled lightly at her remark, but she sensed a hint of apprehensiveness in his tone. She was working on getting her formal dress off as well, but she looked over at him and saw pensive expression. She gave him a few moments to himself while they both shed their clothes in silence, figuring he was just as nervous as she was about what they were about to do. Wearing just her slip, she walked over to the bed and sat down next to her husband, who was now wearing just a pair of shorts like he normally dressed for bed. Stifling a yawn, she leaned into him as he put his arm around her.

"It was an amazing evening, wasn't it?" she stated as much as asking the question.

He smiled at her. "Just a great day all around, really. It couldn't have gone much better." It was his turn to stifle a yawn, which caused Marica to giggle.

After a brief silence, she looked up and asked softly, "So why do you look like something is bothering you?" She turned her body to face him and grimaced slightly.

"What's wrong? Are you hurting?" asked Fret, concerned.

Marica shook her head, laughing lightly. "No, just a bit stiff and sore from our long training session this afternoon. But I asked you first what was wrong."

Fret grinned. "Strip down to your underwear and lay down on your stomach, I'll give you a good massage while we talk."

Grinning back at him, Marica took the slip off, exposing herself topless to him before easing down on to the bed. Fret knelt beside her and beginning at her neck and shoulders massaged her all the way down towards her feet. When he'd gotten down past her back and rear to her thighs he felt her tense slightly, and teasingly said that she was supposed to be getting more relaxed, not more tense. She responded sleepily that it was his fault, that she didn't know how he was managing to both relax her and turn her on at the same time. She tilted her head and looked up at him after he didn't respond to that remark.

"Fret? What's wrong? You still haven't told me."

"Marica..." he started, then paused as he tried to figure out the words he wanted to say.

When he didn't continue right away, she turned over and brought herself up to embrace him. "Hey…" she whispered, "what's got your mind so preoccupied?"

He sighed. "I-I was wondering… well… how you would feel about…" He paused again.

"About?" she asked gently.

"About… maybe waiting until tomorrow to uhh… you know… ummm… _consummate_ our marriage?"

Marica burst out laughing, not being able to help herself, which caused Fret to blush in embarrassment. "That's what's got you all out of sorts?" she questioned, tenderly stroking his cheek with her hand.

"W-well… it's just… we're both exhausted and sore, and… and I just was thinking how special the first time will be… and that it… it should be when we can both enjoy it to the fullest. I know that probably sounds dumb."

"No, it isn't dumb," she replied softly. "It's sweet of you to think of something like that. But why were you so hesitant to tell me?"

"I don't know, I guess because I thought you might think it was dumb, or that you might be disappointed or take it personally like I didn't want to be with you like that or something."

Giggling softly, Marica shook her head. "Okay, so thinking I'd think you didn't want to be with me _is_ dumb. I'll give you that one." Smirking at him she continued, "and oh yeah, I _am_ disappointed."

Fret stared at her in concern. I-I'm s-sorry…" he whispered.

"Will you lighten up already?" she asked firmly. "You'd have a reason to worry if I _wasn't_ disappointed, silly. But I _know_ it'll be that much better when we go to bed _early_ tomorrow night, right?" She grinned mischievously at him, causing him to exhale a breath in relief that he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Smiling at her, he nodded. "I love you, Marica."

Still grinning, with a sparkle in her eyes she replied "Yeah? Good, then get back to work. You haven't finished my massage yet," sticking out her tongue playfully at him and then flopping back on her stomach.

"Wow… just, wow…" replied Fret, laughing, causing Marica to laugh in turn. After finishing up her massage, he slid up alongside her body and pulled her close, throwing the bed sheet over them in the process. They quickly fell off to sleep in each other's arms, husband and wife.

* * *

**AN: I don't usually include author notes, but thought I needed one here. I know that the game itself doesn't reveal the name of Elder Rajim's wife (Sisuca's/Marica's mother), or any info about what happened to her. So I gave her a name, though truthfully I don't know where exactly 'Bria' came from. When you meet the other Marica the first time, she mentions that she thought someone who looked like Jale lived in a nearby village but that she'd never seen a counterpart to Fret or Liu. So that got me thinking about how the counterparts between worlds had different lives and not necessarily the same fates, which triggered the idea of having the other world's Sisuca die as an infant but have the mother/wife still living, and the resulting emotional scene when both families met for the first time. That also kind of fits in with Sisuca's wi-fi quest in the game to go visit the hero in another world, where when she does the hero always recognizes her and they have the sort conversation about how he acts in her world and towards her like the counterpart she was talking to does. I was thinking that didn't make much sense then if Sisuca was still alive and well in the other world, because the other Marica already explains that she doesn't know Fret/the hero in her world. Anyway, I'm probably overanalyzing things, but that was the thought process behind how I handled this scene.**


	26. Old Enemies, New Allies

"Are you _sure_ someone went and told him he's needed down here?" asked Zahra, visibly irritated as he paced.

Eunice sighed, again. "Yes, doctor," she answered in a droll tone, reassuring him once again while at the same time letting him know his behavior was exasperating her. "Under the circumstances I think you're expecting a lot for him to be out of bed this early. Be patient, he'll get here."

Zahra waved his hands dismissively, scoffing. "He can get off his bride long enough to come deal with the prisoner."

"I wasn't aware we had any _prisoners_," remarked Fret, clearly annoyed at hearing Zahra's comment as he walked through the doorway of the castle's medical clinic with Marica and Liu in tow. That was stacked on top of the annoyance at having been woken up by Nakil banging on the door to his room bright and early, saying he was needed down at Dr. Zahra's clinic.

Eunice shook her head. "Doctor, some day you're going to have to learn to stop saying inappropriate things."

Zahra shrugged as if to say, _"what?"_ "The fact remains that I had to stay here last night instead of attending the shindig. Sounds like guard duty to me."

Fret yawned into his fist. "Anyway," he said, not having the energy to argue, "what's up that you needed me down here right away. Is she causing problems?"

"She keeps asking questions. It's bad enough that I have to treat my enemy's injuries," Zahra grumbled.

Fret nodded sympathetically, he could understand his discomfort. "Gotcha… Okay, we'll go talk to her." Truly he intended to do that this morning anyway, just not quite so early. It had been five days since they had defeated the Order Archivist and brought her back badly injured to the castle. He had learned from Eunice at the wedding reception the previous night that the lady had finally woken fully yesterday morning, but Eunice said she told Dr. Zahra that they weren't going to bother Fret and Marica with it on their wedding day, especially not when the lady still needed rest anyway and didn't need to be put under more stress.

* * *

The Order Archivist sat up on the edge of the bed upon hearing new voices, looking wearily over to the sources of them. She was past the point of impatience at no one coming to talk to her, and had quickly discovered that getting information out of the doctor was futile since he openly wore his contempt for her. After being put off on talking to the young leader of Cherem Company yesterday, she had tried again this morning to get some answers as to what was going on. That led to another glare from the doctor, and his assistant scolding him for being so hostile. The assistant did at least say she'd send someone to get the leader, which was better than yesterday when she'd been told there was no chance of talking to him.

She watched the company leader and two of his companions walk towards her. She recognized the tall thin white haired girl from the battle and other previous encounters. She didn't remember seeing the tattooed boy before, but she knew from his markings that he was from the tribe of Scribes like one of the others she fought the other day.

"Hey…" the leader said, forcing a weak smile as he extended his hand. "I'm Fret, and this here is Marica and Liu."

"Fret," she replied, nodding as she let the name roll over her lips. "I am Diadora. I would say it is nice to meet you, but I'd be saying it only to be polite. I have been kept rather in the dark about what is going on and what you intend to do with me."

"Do with you?" asked Liu in a surprised tone.

Diadora smirked. "I am your prisoner, am I not? Surely you have some plan for why you captured me instead of killed me when you had the chance?"

"Whoa, lady, you need to slow down," stated Fret, gesturing with his hands out in front of him. "First of all, we didn't _capture_ you and you ain't our _prisoner_. You were pretty much near death after Sphiel unloaded on you. We brought you back here and had Zahra patch you up."

"Sphiel?" asked Diadora. "Oh… is that the blue haired mage with the rather uhhh… _interesting_ appearance?"

Marica and Liu laughed. "That's one way of putting it," smirked Marica. "She's a bit of a loon."

"But insanely powerful," added Liu.

"Insane is probably the right description, Liu," Marica joked.

"Anyway," replied Fret gruffly, not in the mood for the bantering back and forth. "Are you okay?"

"What do you mean?" asked Diadora, eyeing him skeptically.

"Fairly obvious question, I thought."

"I-I… My wounds are healed if that is what you are asking."

Fret shook his head. "Look lady… Diadora… like I said, you're not a prisoner here, so this ain't an interrogation. Just trying to find out if you're doing okay is all. I _am_ hoping we can talk without you threatening to kill us though."

Diadora broke eye contact, looking down at the floor briefly as she collected her thoughts. "So am I to understand you then that you will simply let me leave after I have answered your questions?"

"If that's what you want to do," Fret replied. "Though to tell the truth, even though I'm in the minority on this I'm hoping you'll end up deciding to join us instead of going back to the Order."

Marica frowned, looking away from him, while Liu fidgeted. Both of them had been opposed when Fret suggested trying to change her allegiance after they first brought her back to the castle, saying she was too dangerous to trust. The reaction of his companions wasn't lost on Diadora. "What is it you wish to know?" she asked tentatively.

"You seem different than the other Archivists we've come across, I mean you don't seem like you enjoy crushing everyone who stands in your way," explained Fret. "How'd you end up with that old kook Valfred anyway?"

Diadora sighed. She could tell her guard was dropping to the charismatic young man who was showing a lot more compassion than she had any reason to expect. But at this point she didn't care, the burden of the Magedom of Janam was still weighing heavily on her and she found herself increasingly questioning the chancellor's decisions. She decided that regardless of the outcome, she at least owed these guys honest answers in exchange for her life.

"I… well… perhaps this will be easier to explain if you let me have my staff back for a moment."

Marica scoffed. "So you can blast us with magic?" she asked sarcastically before backing down slightly under Fret's heavy glare. He called to Eunice to bring the Archivist's staff over, which had been stored in a closet after they brought her in. She retrieved the staff and brought it to Diadora.

Choosing to ignore Marica's comment, Diadora began to explain. "As I mentioned previously, my staff is also a Chronicle- the _Chronicle of Endless Travels_. From the powers I have seen you wield, I know you are Starbearers. I think if you touch my staff my story will become clearer."

Nodding solemnly, Fret stepped forward and grasped the staff. As Diadora expected, a white light flashed as the three Starbearers in front of her received a vision of death and destruction from the Chronicle. Liu winced from the vision, while Marica rested her head in her hands, waiting for focus to return. Fret grimaced as the vision faded, pressing his fingers to the temple of his head gingerly as he looked at Diadora expectantly.

"M-my world," began Diadora, "was one of the first ones destroyed by the One King. _Endless Travels_ here is the Chronicle of my world."

"So those horrible things we saw in the vision happened to your world?" asked Fret.

"Yes," replied Diadora softly. "The One King has destroyed many worlds. That is what the Order of the One True Way has been trying to prevent happening to this world."

"How's that supposed to work?" questioned Liu.

"After merging other worlds to this world, the Order has been obtaining the Chronicles of those worlds, at least in _most_ cases. Chancellor Valfred has discovered a ritual using 12 Chronicles that will enable us to fuse this world to the One King's world, saving it from the fate so many other worlds have already met, including my own."

"Wait, are you saying that the Order is sacrificing other worlds in order to save this one?" asked Fret incredulously.

"No, no," replied Diadora, shaking her head. "The worlds we have fused were ones already destroyed by the One King. Valfred somehow locates them using the True Chronicle of this world, using that information not only to fuse them here, but to direct the fusion to largely uninhabited regions."

"Right, like the 'largely uninhabited' Magedom of Janam?" snarked Marica.

Diadora sighed, shoulders slumping. "As I said before, Valfred felt that was a necessary action because of the threat the Magedom posed in bringing the One True Way to fruition."

Liu studied Diadora's expression as she spoke. He suspected that she was conflicted about the situation. "Diadora, you said that Valfred thought it was necessary. What about you? What's your opinion of all this?"

Diadora frowned, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. She sat back down on the edge of the bed and stared at the floor as the events replayed in her head. Fret was just about to ask her if she was alright when she finally began to speak. "This is… difficult for me. You must understand that all I have known since my world was destroyed and I ended up here has been the Order and the plans to save this world. I _want_ to see this world spared the fate of my world, and I have believed for so long in the chancellor's desire to act for the good of everyone. That the sacrifices required to bring the One True Way to fruition were not just necessary, but pure-hearted…"

She paused again, the memories of her argument with Valfred flashing through her mind again. The others waited for her to continue, not wanting to interrupt.

"…But I… I did _not_ agree with his decision to use a world fusion as a military action against the Magedom. I told him that the purpose of using the True Chronicle to manipulate the fusion locations was to _save _people, to direct the fusions to areas where few people would be affected. Of course, that was after it had already happened, none of us knew beforehand. I argued with him, but he insisted that preserving the future of the One True Way was too important to risk continuing to fight against the Magedom in conventional ways, especially alongside the growing threat from… well, Cherem Company. I… challenged him on it, telling him he was going down a dangerous road in deciding that not everyone was equally worth saving anymore. He said I was naïve in not seeing how the Magedom of Janam and Cherem Company changed the rules of the game."

"Game! This is just a game to him!" asked Fret angrily.

"It was just the turn of a phrase, he did not mean it literally as a game," Diadora explained, waving her hand. "Honestly, I think your company's ability to defeat even the Order's elite soldiers and Archivists scared him, caused something in him to snap. Before Cherem Company came into existence, the struggle between the Magedom and the Order was close to a stalemate. We made some inroads in Magedom territory, and they took back some of our gains. It went back and forth like that for quite awhile, but we were not worried because the Order was still growing as we expanded into other regions and towns throughout the continent. But since Cherem company split from the Magedom approximately a year ago, our growth has almost completely stopped and overall we have lost ground. As long as I have known him, Valfred has always been very passionate about the One True Way, but he has become increasingly fanatical. It is like the One True Way to him is no longer about saving as many people of this world as possible, it is more like a personal mission to bring about. He even seems to care less about the welfare of his strongest supporters than he once did. I do not know why the One True Way is so personal for him, he has never explained it. But it is obvious to everyone around him that the only thing that matters to him is the advancement of the One True Way, no matter the cost."

Liu looked at Diadora thoughtfully. "I can sort of understand the purpose of fusing worlds to get the Chronicles needed to perform the ritual, but what does the whole predetermined future have to do with it? Why can't the Order let people live their lives while still saving the world through the ritual?"

"Good point, Liu," said Fret. "Why does the Order need to control people's lives to save them?"

Diadora nodded, understanding this question was the heart of the resistance to the One True Way. "We have gotten a small glimpse of the One King's world from the Chronicles. As his name would suggest, the One King determines everything. In the One King's world, the past, present, and future is what he decides it is. Those who do not accept his will as their own perish. The principles of the Order of the One True Way are not for the purpose of the Order controlling people or determining their futures, but rather to prepare people for what life in the One King's world will be like. The reason we say only people who accept the Order's principles can be saved is because it is true, though it is often misunderstand because we have not revealed the truth of the One King to the masses yet."

"Why even bother bringing the One King here and trying to join our world to his?" asked Fret. "I mean, who wants to live in a world like that anyway?"

"I can see why you say that," Diadora replied, "but it is not so simple. What the Order is doing is a preemptive attempt to save this world. You have to understand, hundreds of worlds in the Infinity have fallen to the One King already, with more being wiped out on a weekly basis. Left alone, it is only a matter of time before he targets this world."

"And we'll take him down when he does!" declared Fret defiantly.

"What makes you think you will be successful where all these other worlds failed?" Diadora asked in an accusatory tone.

"If we quit without trying then we've already lost!"

"And you think throwing your lives away, and the lives of everyone else in this world, is better than accepting a predetermined future and living? Does that not mean anything to you? Fighting a battle you cannot win is meaningless!"

"Our lives have meaning because they're _ours_," Fret countered. "Not the Order's, not the One King's!" Voice rising, he continued, "How dare you claim the lives of the people on destroyed worlds were meaningless just because they lost! Those people fought for something they believed in! They died for freedom over slavery! To show all of us that win or lose, we don't have to accept the One King's future!" At this point Fret's voice had reached a crescendo as he screamed passionately, "The future is _not_ predetermined! The Order says it's already decided that the One King will either destroy or rule us! I say _nothing_ is decided, _no one _can say that's how it will go, 'cause we'll never know until we try! Win or lose we're fighting until our last breath to save this world, we're _not_ just giving up and letting the One King have it! And if I die defending my friends, then so be it! If I die defending the right for people to be who they want to be and love who they want to love, then so be it! And when I die _no one_ will say my life didn't have meaning!"

Everyone in the room stared at Fret in stunned, awed silence as he finished his rant. Even Asad, Nakil, and Hafin, who had come in from their usual hangout spot outside in the hall. Marica slipped her arms around his waist from behind and pressed her face into his back, wetting his shirt with the tears his rousing speech had moved her to.

After a prolonged silence, Diadora softly spoke. "You really believe that, don't you?"

"With all his heart," said Marica hoarsely, answering on his behalf while he simply nodded affirmatively.

"You have given me a lot to think about," admitted Diadora. "I think I need a little time to sort things out."

Fret nodded again. "We'll leave you to it then. Like I said before, you're not a prisoner here. You're welcome to wander around the castle, talk to whoever you want. If you're hungry, Logan should have breakfast going by now. That's in the tavern on the first floor. If you need to find me later, best talk to Moana. She's almost always in the main entry hall on the 1st floor, where the stairs and lift are. If for some reason you decide to leave, do us a favor and let us know first? We won't stop you or anything, but I'd just like to know if that's what you decide to do without having to guess what happened to you."

Diadora nodded, smiling slightly at the young man's demeanor. "Thank you for your hospitality. It is a pleasant surprise."

"May I ask one more question, Diadora?" asked Liu.

"You may…"

"You have these memories still of your world, and of what this world was like before the fusions. That wasn't the case with other Order Archivists we've run into. I mean, like with Fergus and Conon, who seemed to have no idea that Flesaria Forest wasn't always here. And we know Dirk has no memories of it either. Does that mean you are a Starbearer too, or did you get that knowledge in some other way?"

Diadora frowned briefly, looking down. "I… I guess I have always been a Starbearer, both on this world and previously in my own world. I was one of the few that escaped to another world after the One King descended on us."

Liu nodded. "I figured as much, you've got all the characteristics."

Diadora looked at Liu quizzically. "I know you are from the tribe of Scribes, do you know much of Starbearers then?"

Liu shrugged. "Not so much from being the Elder Scribe, it's really from just how many we've recruited into our company."

"So you have a number of Starbearers in Cherem Company then?"

Chucking, Fret replied, "You could say that. I think we're up to what, Liu, 80? 85?"

Diadora's eyes widened in shock. "80 to 85 _Starbearers_?"

"Yeah, everyone in Cherem Company is a Starbearer. So if you join the club you'll fit right in," Fret jested.

Diadora shook her head in disbelief. Smiling slightly, she replied, "No wonder your company is so powerful… You have certainly surprised me, in more ways than one. I need to think about some things, but I will seek you out later to continue our conversation."

"Fair enough," stated Fret. "As far as I know I don't have plans to go anywhere today, so I should be around here somewhere. Talk to you later then." With that, Fret, Marica, and Liu excused themselves and left the room.

* * *

It was later that day, early afternoon, when Erin came up to Fret and Marica outside on the castle grounds. The two were sparring, continuing Marica's training in melee fighting. Marica's natural agility enabled her to quickly get the hang of the basic techniques Fret had taught her, so today he had introduced a few more advanced techniques to attack with both blades simultaneously. He was impressed with her progress, but made sure to temper his enthusiasm so she didn't get too overconfident in her abilities.

"Hey guys," said Erin, smiling as she approached her friends. "Moana said that woman from the Order is looking for you. Well, looking for Fret specifically, that is. She's waiting over by the gateway."

Fret nodded, panting slightly from the workout. "Thanks, Erin. Come on Marica, you might as well come along with me."

"Definitely…" grumbled Marica. She didn't trust Diadora at all, and thought Fret was being very naive in the level of trust he was giving her.

Fret rolled his eyes, knowing what she was thinking, but remained silent as the three walked over to the castle's gateway.

* * *

"You wanted to see me?" asked Fret as he approached Diadora with Marica and Erin alongside him. Erin didn't really need to be there, but she didn't have anything else to do at the moment and her friends didn't mind her tagging along.

"Yes, thank you for coming so quickly. I have been thinking about what you said earlier, and about the direction Chancellor Valfred is taking the Order. I have come to the conclusion that I cannot support what the Order is doing any longer, and that I would join your company if you will still have me."

Fret smiled. "Sounds good to me, welcome aboard! By the way, we don't really have a system for assigning rooms in the castle, it's kind of been first come first serve as to who rooms where. Erin here can probably help you get settled in, or you can just look around and see what's available."

"Thank you for that. I do have one other thing to discuss with you."

"Sure…"

"I am sure you remember from our previous… encounters… that I was able to summon gateway portals with my staff. I can do that to bring things to my current location as well as to return to nearly any location I have previously been."

Memories flashed through Fret's mind of the times they fought Diadora, both several days earlier and back in Pharamond, when Diadora enabled the Archivists to succeed in stealing four of Cherem Company's Chronicles. "Yeah… we remember," stated Marica flatly.

"Well, I can use that power to take us from here right to the Chronicle room at the top of the Tower of the One True Way. We can grab the Chronicles and gateway right back to here before anyone notices us."

Fret's eyes grew wide in excitement at the possibility. "Awesome idea! Let's get a plan together to send a team through to snag the Order's Chronicles!"

Diadora shook her head. "We do not have the time to spend planning. If we are to do this, we need to go now and it can only be a couple of people… you and me."

Alarms were going off like crazy in Marica's head. "What's the big rush?" she asked suspiciously. "And why only you two?"

"I have been gone for what, 5 or 6 days now? Valfred will begin to become suspicious, and it is only a matter of time before he learns my allegiance has changed. We have to go now before that happens, while we still have the element of surprise. Once he knows I have left the Order he will prepare for something like that and it will be too dangerous too attempt. As to why only two of us, I have to go of course, otherwise it is a one way trip for whoever goes through the gateway. And while I would like some help, more people increases the likelihood of being caught." Diadora continued to explain, "I picked Fret simply because he is the only one so far who has shown a willingness to trust me."

Fret nodded, contemplating what she said. "Well, that makes sense I guess. Alright, let's go."

"What?" shouted Marica incredulously, glaring at him. "You can't be serious, Fret!"

Fret raised an eyebrow quizzically in response.

"You… you… how can you trust her like that? You're just going to take her word for it that she's had a change of heart and isn't leading you on a one way trip right into the chancellor's hands?"

"Marica…"

She was beginning to get frantic. "Fret! Listen to me! You _can't_ do this! It's too dangerous! Please!" She looked him in the eyes, silently pleading for him to come to his senses.

"Marica, I… I don't think she'll betray me… us. It'll be okay."

Marica was on the verge of tears, knowing she was losing this battle and scared of losing him. "Please…" she whispered hoarsely, "don't do this."

Diadora sighed. She understood the girl's hesitance to trust her, and she also noticed how the girl clung to Fret's side. She wondered how close they really were, it seemed like she had a lot of influence with him. "Marica…" she began. "I know you have no reason to trust me at this point, but I assure you anyway that I am being forthright and honest with you. I will not betray Cherem Company."

Fret hugged Marica, who buried her face in his chest as she fought the urge to cry. "Hey…" he whispered. "It'll be fine, just a quick in and out and we'll be right back. We probably won't even be gone more than half an hour. Trust me, okay? I'm pretty good at judging people."

Marica looked up at Fret, staring into his eyes. Blinking back the tears, she kissed him briefly on the lips before pulling away. He knew from her action that however reluctantly, without actually saying anything she was giving him her approval to go.

Fret nodded at Marica. "Alright, let's go," he said to Diadora.

The now former Order Archivist waved her staff and opened up a gateway portal. "This will take us into the Chronicle room in the tower," she said, beginning to walk toward it. Fret started walking towards it as well.

"Diadora?" asked Marica, her voice still wavering slightly.

"Yes?"

Marica took a deep breath. Exhaling, she said, "Keep him safe. I swear if you bring any harm to him you won't live long enough to enjoy the smug satisfaction of it."

Diadora flinched noticeably from the threat, but only nodded silently and stepped into the portal. Erin placed a reassuring hand on Marica's shoulder while the pair, along with Hotupa nearby, watched Fret disappear through the portal after Diadora. A few seconds later the portal vanished, right around the same time it dawned on Marica that Fret hadn't taken his swords with him and hadn't put on his regular battle armor. She fought to suppress the panic that was threatening to well up inside and consume her. She bit her bottom lip and tugged nervously at a bang of hair, knowing all they could do at this point was wait, and hope he would be back soon.


	27. Misunderstandings and Makeouts

Erin easily sensed her best friend's growing anxiety. Truthfully, she was becoming rather dismayed herself, but she was trying to maintain a calm front anyway. Marica was obviously struggling to keep her emotions in check as it was, and she didn't need Erin's consternation contributing even more to her state.

It had been more than an hour since Diadora had led Fret through the portal directly into the Tower of the Way. Marica, who had been strongly opposed to him going in the first place, refused to move from her spot near the castle gateway where Diadora had summoned the portal that disappeared shortly after they entered it. She was nearly beside herself with worry, if the mission was really as cut and dried as Diadora made it out to be, they'd have already been back a long time ago. But they were well past due back, and none of the reasons she could come up with for them taking this long were good. Either Diadora betrayed them after all and caused Fret to be captured or killed, or they ran into trouble and were captured or killed. Marica was frustrated at herself as well as both Fret and Diadora for not recognizing he wasn't properly armed or armored when they left. And while he had the _healing tide_ mark of the stars to heal himself and his allies in battle, he didn't have any other healing supplies with him. And she should have fought harder against him going alone with _her_. All in all this was shaping up to be disastrous.

"What is taking him so long?" groused Marica out loud to no one in particular, for about the 10th time in the last 45 minutes.

Erin didn't know what to say. There was no use in telling her to be patient or not to worry at this point. It didn't make sense to her either why they'd be gone this long, unless something bad happened. And she didn't want to allow herself to dwell on that. She was trying to think of something comforting to say that wouldn't sound trite, when a portal finally appeared.

Arriving first through the portal was Diadora. Marica and Erin gasped though when the next person to arrive wasn't Fret, but rather the Order strongman Nova. Marica's eyes burned with fury.

"You bitch! You betrayed Fret and now you've come back to attack us!" she screamed.

"W-wait!" shouted Diadora, wide-eyed in shock. But it was too late, Marica was on her in a flash and tackled her to the ground, knocking her staff away and fully intent on throttling the older lady. Erin noticed what Marica hadn't, that Nova was very badly wounded and was in no condition to attack anyone. She screamed at Marica to stop, shaken up at seeing the murderous glint in her friend's eyes. Marica didn't let up, however, and was pummeling Diadora with punches. In an effort to break the two up at least until she could find out what was going on, Erin dove into the scrum and knocked Marica off of Diadora, who then tried to crawl away while yelling at Marica to stop. Marica threw Erin off of her and jumped back on Diadora, which was followed by Erin jumping back into the fray and trying to get between them.

Wrestling around, the girls didn't notice Fret come through the portal moments later.

"Hey!" he shouted, getting their attention and causing the fighting to stop immediately. Marica stared in disbelief that he was actually here. He had a pretty good idea that Marica had gotten the wrong idea when Fret didn't come through the portal, but he couldn't let an opportunity to crack a joke this good pass him by.

"Do I have time to go pop some popcorn before you girls start the next round?" he smirked, flashing his trademark grin. "Though I have to say, it's more entertaining if mud and skimpy outfits are involved."

"Fret, if _she_ doesn't kill you for that comment, _I_ will!" laughed Erin, half out of breath. He laughed along with her as he extended a hand that she took, pulling her to her feet.

"Awww… you're so cute when you're embarrassed," he said to Marica playfully, winking at her. She had turned bright red in embarrassment, realizing that she had jumped to completely the wrong conclusion. Standing up and brushing herself off, she hastily cast a healing wave, and apologized profusely to Diadora.

Initially Diadora glared angrily at the girl, even after she had been healed. "Are you _always_ this overprotective of him? I think you're a little too young to be his mother."

Marica bowed her head shamefully, not replying. Fret went over and put his arm around her. "Sorry, Diadora," he said. "I can imagine what it looked like when you and Nova came through and I was lagging behind. I'd have probably reacted about the same if the roles were reversed." Marica still didn't look up at Diadora, but she felt some comfort in Fret's words.

"I see…" replied Diadora curtly, readjusting her glasses and running her hands through her hair to brush out the grass. "I take it you two are rather close then?"

Chuckling, he squeezed Marica tighter and nodded. "You could say that, we're married."

"Ohhh…" said Diadora softly, now having more insight into the girl's reaction. "Have you been married long?"

"For _ages_…" answered Fret, grinning widely. "I mean, it's been at least 20 hours already."

Marica wasn't in the mood for his joking, so she elbowed him in the ribs to get him to stop fooling around.

"Ugh!" he gasped more out of surprise from the unexpected blow than any real pain. "Sooo violent!"

Diadora raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You mean to say you were wedded only yesterday?"

Smiling sheepishly, Fret nodded. "Yup!"

"I suppose that explains why the nurse told me it would be impossible to see you yesterday."

"Not to change the subject," interjected Erin, pointing to Nova. "But since you mentioned Eunice… this man looks badly hurt, we need to get him to her and Zahra."

"Would you mind going with Diadora and Nova, Erin?" Gesturing towards Marica, he grinned, "I need to take 'mother' here away before she hurts anyone else." Marica cringed at the reference, blushing again.

Erin nodded, giggling. "Of course, you know I'd do anything you needed."

Diadora didn't say anything, but she was astonished at the girl's simple comment. She was quickly learning how much loyalty the charismatic young Fret inspired in others. She was still skeptical of their ability to defeat the One King, but she had no doubt that Cherem Company was completely loyal to Fret and would willingly give their lives if necessary.

* * *

Marica glanced over at Fret pensively. He hadn't said a word to her from the time they left the gateway area until now, where they were walking into their room on the 4th floor of the castle. She felt horrible for how she had treated Diadora, and suspected that despite his humor earlier he was rather upset with her for how she'd behaved today. She sat down on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor while waiting for the expected lecture. She could hear him pace to the other end of the room and back, but he still hadn't said anything. She finally felt the need to break the silence.

"Fret… I…"

Suddenly she felt herself being thrown back on the bed, and her startled gasp was suppressed by his mouth covering hers. Her shock prevented her from completely melting into the kiss. Realizing this, Fret pulled back after a few moments and cracked his lopsided grin at her, chuckling at her bewildered expression.

He brushed his hand over her cheek, whispering huskily, "You have no idea how much of a turn on it was seeing you so _passionate_ about my safety earlier." Marica blushed at his words, feeling her own body heat rising under the intensity of his stare and the closeness of his form pressed down on hers, pinning her to the bed.

"Y-you're not m-mad?" she asked tentatively.

Chuckling lasciviously, he answered by leaning back in and trailing his tongue down her neck, gently nipping at the flesh, eliciting mewing sounds from his bride as she began to squirm under him. She could feel his own excitement pressing firmly against her thigh, and instinctively she reached for it, causing him to moan into her neck in pleasure when her hand found purchase. She trembled like a leaf caught in the wind as his hands and mouth roamed her body, and she could hear his breathing getting ragged as well. Marica knew it was time.

"_I_… _want_… _you_…" she hissed, emphasizing each word as sultrily as she could, attempting to match the passion he displayed, which threatened to overwhelm her. Fret lifted his head up and brushed his nose up against hers, their eyes locked in a stare that was equal parts lust and love. No further words were needed, with bated breath they began to undress each other in preparation of joining together for the first time…

* * *

It had been two days since Fret and Diadora had attempted to sneak into the Tower of the Way and steal the remaining Chronicles held by the Order. What they found when they got there was that the Chronicles had already been moved from the Chronicle room in the tower to Chancellor Valfred's chambers. Much to Marica's chagrin, she found out after they returned with a badly wounded Nova that it was Fret's idea to explore the tower a bit when they didn't immediately find the Chronicles. That made her feel even worse about assaulting Diadora upon her return through the portal, though she was glad that after going and talking to her again the next day, Diadora assured her that she accepted the apology and that it was over and done with.

Sneaking through the tower, Fret and Diadora were outside Valfred's chambers when they heard a loud commotion inside. They overheard an argument between Nova and Valfred concerning the Archivist Sophia, who they knew to be Valfred's daughter. Valfred had performed a ritual to embed the Chronicle they'd recovered from the desert world before Cherem Company inside of Sophia, the same type of technique that had led to the deaths of the archivists Fergus and Conon, and almost killed Sophia in a battle with Cherem Company when Manaril had invoked a spell and forcefully ripped the Chronicle of _Fierce Regalia_ from her. When challenged by Nova, Valfred used a mage power to blast him back against the wall with enough force to nearly kill him. At that point, Diadora gave up their cover by intervening, quickly grabbing Nova and summoning a portal back to Castle Starcache that she took him through. Even though she left Fret alone with Valfred and Sophia, her actions didn't leave him in jeopardy because he just needed to enter the portal right behind her. But typical of Fret, he couldn't resist the urge to get into an argument with Valfred before ducking through the portal at the last moment before it collapsed.

The following day, after Nova had woken up, they learned that Sophia was actually Nova's daughter, not Valfred's. Years earlier Valfred had attempted to do the same thing with Nova that he had done to grant powers to the other Archivists, only with Nova it went horribly wrong. Hallucinating, Nova lashed out and killed his own wife and mortally wounded Sophia. The girl was so traumatized that after Valfred nursed her back to health, she blocked out Nova in her mind and started recognizing Valfred as her father. This hurt Nova tremendously, but he dealt with it and stayed with the Order just to be near her and protect her. Nova begged Fret for Cherem Company to help him save Sophia from Valfred, however, Diadora said that it would be too risky to attempt to use a portal into the Tower of the Way again, they'd have to go through Fort Arc and then storm Cynas instead. Fret and Liu agreed to put together a plan to do just that, and after quick preparations it was decided to send three teams to secure Fort Arc. Fret, Marica, Nova, and Sphiel would be one. Logan, Jale, Asad, and Liu would be another. The third team would be Chrodechild, Diulf, Nimni, and Manaril.

* * *

Fret and Marica sat together in an EZ chair out on the balcony of their bedroom, looking out over the clear nighttime sky to the south of the castle. More accurately, she was sitting in his lap as he held her close. It had been a hectic day of preparations, and the couple was taking advantage of what little quiet time remained before leaving in the morning for Fort Arc. The siege there would mark the beginning of Cherem Company's offensive campaign against the Order, the first time they initiated conflict that wasn't in response to an attack or reclaiming an Order conquest.

"You've been awfully quiet," Marica observed. "You okay?"

Fret smiled at her lovingly, squeezing her closer. "Sure, just thinking. Once we take Fort Arc, for the first time since we got caught up in all this Order stuff we'll actually be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel."

"Sort of… Cynas won't be a walk in the park, having to fight the Order on their home turf. And then there's the One King to deal with after that."

"True, I didn't say it would be easy. But doesn't it feel like one way or another, we're getting close to the end?"

Marica nestled her head back into the crook of his neck. "Yeah," she whispered softly. "And that scares me."

"Hey… it'll be alright. We'll save the world, then get to retire as heroes and live out quiet uneventful lives together back in Citro."

"I-I'm trying to share your optimism, but it's hard. We're not invincible, you know? Besides, do you really think after all we've seen and done that we'll be able to settle down in Citro? We certainly won't need to adventure for the money, but I have a hard time seeing us going back to our old lives now."

Fret grinned. "Well, either way, at least it'll be _our_ future and not one _predetermined_ by someone else."

Sighing, Marica snuggled in closer and replied softly, "You'd better survive this mess. I don't want to be part of any future without you."

He lifted her chin to gently force her to make eye contact. "I wish I could promise that, but you know if it came down to it I'd give my life to protect yours, it wouldn't even be a decision."

She knew that look in his eyes, he was deadly serious and fully committed. And when he was like that, there was no possibility of changing his mind.

"I-I know…" she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "I just hope I'll be strong enough to keep it from happening."

"Shhhh… relax… I'm not going to go out of my way to get myself killed off. I want to live too, you know? I plan on us having a big party to celebrate our 75th anniversary, and getting to tell our great-grandkids the story of how we saved the world from the One King." Grinning, he added, "I wish that was one thing that _was_ predetermined."

Marica grinned back at him mischievously. "Well, I can tell you one thing that _is _predetermined…"

"Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah," she whispered huskily. "It's _predetermined_ that you'll take me to bed now."

Fret laughed. "That was terrible! You need to leave the jokes to me."

Pretending to pout, Marica replied, "So are you saying that isn't true?"

He picked her up in his arms as he stood from the chair and began walking back into the bedroom. "Not at all," he whispered. "Not at all…"


	28. Miscalculations and Overreactions

Though it bore the name 'fort', Fort Arc was really more of a walled off, fortified town than a typical military outpost. At full strength it was home to thousands of Order of the One True Way members, primarily soldiers and military leaders. Located a short distance south of Cynas in the central part of the continent, the fort served both as a means of controlling all traffic in and out of Cynas and as the main staging ground for Order military operations. The main north-south passageway through the middle of the fort stretched nearly three kilometers, with numerous east-west stone paths of various lengths branching off the main path, some up to a kilometer and a half in length.

The three Cherem Company teams had descended on Fort Arc in an early morning attack, hoping to gain the element of surprise. After sneaking in through the south entrance the fort, they quickly discovered that the Order had largely abandoned the fort, but had gated the main thoroughfare as a defensive countermeasure. Fret remembered from their earlier trip through Fort Arc to Cynas that there was another gate near the northern entrance, and said they should assume it was closed as well. Chrodechild suggested that there must be levers elsewhere in the fort that controlled the series of gates, so at the main entrance the teams split up, with each group taking a different direction inside the fort. The team of Chrodechild, Diulf, Nimni, Manaril, and Eunice went east, while the team of Logan, Jale, Asad, Liu, and Gorno went west. Fret, Marica, Nova, Sphiel, and Erin headed north towards the first gate, running into resistance a short way in.

"_Heretics_!" sneered a Cynas captain, "You've been a thorn in our sides for far too long!" Gesturing left and right towards the two Cynas mages accompanying him, he declared, "We'll end you right here!"

Marica scoffed. "So tell us then, what really makes you think you can take us down when the best of the Order have failed over and over?"

Fret laughed at her reaction. "You know, captain. There are four fighters among us and only three of you. Personally I think any one of us here could take all three of you out while the others just stand around and watch."

"You cocky bastard!" snarled the captain. "You don't have the stones to try something like that!"

Ignoring the taunt, Fret continued in a tone of voice akin to a carny trying to entice a crowd at a traveling carnival. "So who'll be the one to relieve you of your lives? Will it be the lovely and talented Miss Marica? Or perhaps the not so lovely but pretty darn strong Mr. Nova? Or maybe the one-shot specialist herself, the exotically beautiful Miss Sphiel? Or could it be that you want to take your chances with the host of today's contest, a man whose reputation for daring uhhh-"

"I think you mean _recklessness_," interrupted Marica sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Fret's performance.

"Uhhh… as I was saying… whose reputation for _daring_ recklessness precedes him!" Marica and Erin both giggled, while Sphiel appeared as aloof and disinterested as always. Nova shook his head, getting irritated with the nonsensical banter. He didn't like the kid treating this like some game when so much was at stake. They were wasting precious time with these histrionics.

The Cynas captain twirled his sword menacingly. "How 'bout I cut out your tongue, wiseass? Then gut you here in front of your fellow heathens?"

Turning to his companions, Fret shrugged. "Sorry, guys, guess they picked me this time."

"Okay, Fret. Stop fooling around," said Marica sternly. "There's no way we're letting you fight these guys by yourself, even if they _are_ a bunch of pushovers."

Fret grinned deviously. "Whatever. Don't blink or you'll miss the show."

"Fret!" shouted Erin in alarm, seeing the Cynas captain charge forward while Fret had his attention on Marica. He spun around barely in time to partially deflect the captain's thrust. Instead of having the sword run through his stomach, it gashed open his side instead. The captain chuckled wickedly as he retreated from the attack before Fret could counter, satisfied with taking his enemy by surprise.

"Ugh!" Fret grimaced as his side seared in pain. "That was sooo cheap!" he exclaimed angrily, right before being blasted to the ground by _bind lightning_ attacks from the two Cynas mages. Panting as he dragged himself to his feet, he felt healing from both Marica and Erin washing over his body simultaneously. "Now you've just pissed me off!" he hissed to the Cynas troops, his eyes ablaze in fury. He slammed his swords back in their sheaths and extended both of his hands at the trio of enemies. Darkly, he uttered a single word as blue and black light poured from his hands and engulfed them – _"die…"_

The light flashed in a massive explosion, leaving three dead bodies in its wake. Fret dropped to his knees from the toll the mark of the stars he used had exerted on his body. Marica hurried to him, kneeling down in front of him and grasping either side of his face firmly in her hands as she forced him to look at her. She immediately noticed the lack of focus in his gaze.

"What the _hell_ was _that_?" she asked, her voice a mixture of concern for his health, fear of the huge amount of power he had unleashed, and irritation that he'd expend so much of himself in a battle they'd have easily gotten through just fighting them straight up.

Fret's vision snapped back into focus. "Wow…" he said softly. "Guess I probably shouldn't have used that one for the first time in a live battle without knowing how much it'd take out of me."

"What _was _that?" Marica reiterated, still not letting him go as the others gathered around to listen.

"The mark of the stars I got from the Chronicle of _Endless Travels_," he explained, sighing. "It's called _Dying Wish_. I knew it'd be fairly costly in terms of magic power, but I wasn't expecting _that_. I'm sorry, guys, I wouldn't have used it if I'd known. I mean, it wasn't even necessary. It was tactically stupid to use such a big chunk of my magic power on easy enemies like that."

Marica let go of him, frowning but not saying anything as she reached for her equipment pack. Digging out a couple of mints, she handed them to him. "Here, take these. They should recover the mana you blew on that attack."

He nodded solemnly, averting her gaze and staring at the ground. He ate the mints and immediately felt the recuperative effects. "Alright, guys, let's go."

* * *

"Is he alright?" Erin asked Marica as they fell back into formation.

"Yeah," sighed Marica, exhaling a breath of relief. "And he's done goofing around now."

"You can see the determination on his face," observed Erin.

Marica smirked. "I suppose you could call it that if you were trying to be polite."

"What do you mean?"

"I know that look. He's embarrassed, and seething inside at himself. And he feels like he's let us down, something he _hates_ more than about anything. We just have to hope he doesn't get himself into even more trouble trying to make up for it."

"Like dwelling on it to where it affects his concentration?"

Marica shook her head. "No, more like trying to do too much, thinking because of his mistake he needs to re-prove himself to us."

"Really?" asked Erin skeptically. "How could he possibly think he had anything to prove?"

"I know, Erin, I know. But from past experience I know there's no convincing him otherwise. Like a cold, it just has to run its course."

"I guess that's why you just helped him back there without criticizing him for that stunt?"

Nodding, Marica answered, "Exactly. Like I said, he already feels like he let us down, so getting on his case about it would only make things worse. It's one of the few situations where I have to tread lightly with his feelings."

"Alright, guys," called out Fret from the front, standing at the first gate. It was huge, a pair of 6 meter tall thick wooden doors reinforced with bands of steel. The gate could be activated by one of two levers. For convenience, one lever was on a nearby wall on the north side of the gate, the interior facing side. That ensured that it could easily be opened and closed from inside. Opening the gate from the exterior facing side required finding the remote lever, a more difficult task for potential invaders since they were to less likely to know where to look, plus the lever could be defended separately from the defense of the gate. The two levers were functionally equivalent though, either one would engage the mechanism to open or close the gate. However, once started, the open or close action couldn't be reversed until it completed. "Looks like we're stuck waiting until one of the other teams gets this gate opened." Sitting down and leaning against the gate, he added, "Go ahead and take a rest, but stay alert to our surroundings. We don't want to get snuck up on while we're waiting here." In his own mind added a silent plea, _"Come on, Jale… Chrodechild… get these gates open…"_

* * *

"Despite being told the Order was withdrawing troops from here, I am still surprised we have not encountered more resistance," said King Diulf of the Furious Roar.

"It _is_ rather disconcerting," admitted Chrodechild. "I cannot escape the feeling that we are doing exactly what the Order wants."

"At least we'll be fresh if they spring a surprise attack on us," offered Nimni. "We've only faced two small groups of soldiers so far…" He trailed off when he caught site of a Cynas captain, Order conscript, and a pair of Cynas mages as the party came around a bend in the path. "Looks like we found one of the gate levers, guarded of course."

"Stay sharp!" warned Chrodechild. "Manaril and Nimni, concentrate on the mages. Diulf, go after the captain. I will quickly dispatch the conscript and then assist you with the captain."

"Not if he isn't alive by the time you finish with yours," growled Diulf, causing Chrodechild to chuckle. She knew he meant no disrespect, he was just typical of the Furious Roar in being highly competitive and supremely confident.

From the right flank of the front line, Nimni had the advantage with his Lazuli Spear of being able to attack back row enemies, unlike Chrodechild and Diulf. His small physical stature also aided his ability to squeeze through an enemy's front ranks. Nimni scurried forward, darting between the captain and conscript and thrusting his spear forward into the shoulder of one of the Cynas mages, retreating before he got trapped behind enemy lines.

Manaril cast a _sleep frost_ at the same mage Nimni attacked, burying the mage under the crush of falling ice and rendering him unconscious. The other Cynas mage countered with a _bind lightning_ attack at Manaril, hurting the frail girl and paralyzing her.

The Order conscript looked back and forth at Chrodechild and Diulf at the center and left flank respectively of the Cherem Company team's front line before deciding to take his chances with Chrodechild. He charged forward with shield on his left arm and broadsword in his right hand. There was no finesse whatsoever in his attack, he tried to overwhelm his more physically slight opponent with sheer power. Chrodechild smirked, to her it was like the clumsy attack was coming at her in slow motion. She didn't even bother attempting to parry the conscript's vicious chop, instead she spun out of the way to his side and simultaneously countered with a slashing attack from both of her blades. _Flash_ in her left hand found the gap at the back of his neck between the top of his plate armor and the base of his helm, and _Flame_ in her right hand raked across the back of his knee, a less protected spot in the armor due to the need for flexibility. The conscript howled in pain momentarily before Chrodechild cut his cries off by bringing her blades back the other direction. Both slashed deep through his throat, with the ruptured jugular grotesquely spraying her with blood as he went down.

Between the scowl he wore and the appropriately named Hell Fists he wielded, King Diulf looked even more menacing than usual as he rushed the Cynas captain, whose morale was already failing. The captain attempted to parry the attacks, but Diulf was a battle hardened warrior with few equals. The martial artist moved at the blazing speed the Furious Roar were famed for, and combined it with ferocity that few could match. The Cynas captain certainly couldn't, and quickly became a bloody mess from over a dozen wounds inflected in a matter of seconds. Before he could even hope to deliver a counterattack, Chrodechild leapt in and finished him off by running _Flame_ through a joint in his armor under his arm and down through his chest cavity. The captain was already dead when Diulf roared and grabbed him, forcefully ripping him off of Chrodechild's blade and tossing him aside like a sack of Janam potatoes.

Declaring "time to take your medicine," Eunice waved her hands and cured Manaril of her paralysis. Nimni scooted forward and impaled the mage that had been put to sleep previously by Manaril, at roughly the same time she launched a ranged attack from her topaz staff. _"At least he didn't feel any pain as he died," _she thought to herself. The remaining Cynas mage nervously stepped up to the front line, dismayed at how quickly his party had been routed.

Chrodechild was never one for unnecessary slaughter. "Fight or flee, your choice!" she hissed at the Cynas mage. The mage hesitated for a moment as if mulling over his options before stupidity won out over common sense. He fired a _bind lightning_ attack at her, causing her to grunt in pain from the scorching attack, but failing to paralyze her. His life ended almost immediately when she and Diulf charged together.

"Don't think you can take credit for the captain," Diulf said to Chrodechild matter-of-factly as he carefully wiped the blood from the razor-like talons of his Hell Fists. She looked up in surprise from the field cleaning of her own blades before cracking a smile at the Furious Roar chief.

"I would not think of it, even if you did pull his corpse off my blade."

Diulf roared in laughter. "I like you, you've got spirit!" he declared. While she laughed with him, he added, "After that performance and seeing you so beautifully covered in your dead enemy's blood, if you were Furious Roar I might have taken you for a wife right here on the battlefield."

Chrodechild blushed, caught completely off guard by his comment and having no idea how to respond. Seeing her stunned and embarrassed expression only made him laugh harder. "That was a compliment, nothing more," he explained. "Do not see more in it than was intended."

Chuckling, she nodded. "You honor me to deem me worthy of your tribe, thank you." _"And I can't wait to see Asad's face get when I tell him about this,_" she laughed to herself.

"I pulled the lever," noted Nimni, interrupting. "We can go back now and see if Fret's team was able to advance past the gate."

* * *

"Save your strength, Pops," said Fret flatly, with a tinge of annoyance in his tone. The party had been waiting at the gate for about 15 minutes, and while Fret and Sphiel sat on the ground leaning up against the gate a few meters apart, and Marica and Erin sat talking on the back of an abandoned merchant wagon, Nova had paced back and forth irritably the entire time. He glared at the younger man briefly in response, saying nothing. Even though he'd fought and lost to Cherem Company in the past, he wasn't terribly impressed with the young leader. Especially not after the stupid stunt he pulled earlier. How they'd gotten this far against the Order without someone more responsible in charge was beyond him. However, he walked over and leaned against the wall of a building on the side of the street, ceasing his pacing.

"Think we should go talk to him?" Erin asked Marica, both girls having observed the exchange. It was obvious to them that Fret wasn't his usual self.

"Better just to leave him alone," replied Marica. "What he really needs is a challenging battle."

"How's that?"

Marica shrugged. "He's not going to let go of what happened earlier until he feels like he's earned our respect back." Preempting her friend's objection, she continued, "I know, I know, you don't have to say anything, it's totally stupid."

Erin frowned. "But he's confident to a fault, how can he be so self-conscious about this? I mean, what he did earlier was dumb, but it's not like it really amounted to anything more than having to waste a couple of mints. I have to be missing something, I'm just not getting it… I'm going to go talk to him."

Sighing, Marica reached over and placed her hand on her friend's thigh, silently asking her to stay here. "Yeah," she said softly, looking down at the ground. "You're right… you're missing something."

"Something bad I take it?" asked Erin after several seconds went by without Marica continuing.

Marica pulled on a bang of her hair, as she often did when thinking. "Yeah…" she sighed. "I-I've never told the story before. I don't think any of us have."

Seeing her friend's discomfort, Erin said, "Hey, don't worry about it. You don't have to tell me."

Shaking her head, Marica replied, "No, Erin, it isn't that. I trust you completely. I was just trying to figure out where to start. But the more I think about it, the more I think I owe it to Fret to ask him first before telling the story. I can't imagine he'd have a problem with you knowing. For now though, just trust me and leave him be, please?"

Erin nodded, smiling. "Don't worry, I'll resist the urge to try to fix-"

Just then, the gate doors that Fret and Sphiel were leaning against began to move, the hinges groaning loudly from the metal on metal scraping. "What!" Who activated that gate!" someone shouted from the other side. "Soldiers, into position!"

"Get ready, gang!" barked Fret. The party quickly regrouped into formation while the gate slowly opened. Fret quickly took inventory of the enemy forces in front of them – a Cynas captain and two Cynas conscripts flanking him to form a front row, and a Cynas archer behind them. Further back in the distance he could identify another captain leading a trio of soldiers towards them. He knew they needed to dispatch this first group quickly in order to avoid having to tangle with both them and the reinforcements simultaneously.

* * *

Fret was practically vibrating in anticipation, a wound spring waiting to be sprung. As soon as the gate doors swung wide enough to not be in the way, he activated his _masterpiece_ mark and launched himself forward at the conscript directly across from his left flank position. The conscript was slow on the uptake, and Fret was on him before he could get his shield in position to intercept the incoming swords. Propelled by the _masterpiece_ mark, Fret's dual chopping attack came down hard on the conscript's shoulders, separating his arms from his body. The shock barely had time to register on the solder's face before the tip of Fret's right hand scale sword pierced his throat.

While pulling his sword back from the dead conscript's throat, Fret simultaneously spun around, bringing his left blade crashing down in a backhanded slashing attack against the captain in the center of the Order formation. The captain blocked the slash with his broadsword, but Fret continued to press, keeping the captain's blade occupied with his left while bringing the right to bear across his chest. The captain's plate armor protected him from being cut by the blade, but the force of the sword crashing into his chest still knocked him back and off balance. Fret took the opportune opening, driving his blades quickly forward in a thrust attack that wedged between the overlapping plates covering the captain's chest and stomach. With one blade rupturing a lung and the other rupturing the spleen, the captain dropped to his knees into an audible death rattle.

Not missing a beat, Fret snatched the knife from the sheath on his right boot, flipping it up to grab by the blade, and in the same motion whipping it at the Cynas archer. His aim was true, the knife embedding itself in the base of the archer's neck. As he turned to retrieve his swords from the body of the fallen captain, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. The remaining conscript had used the chance afforded by Fret's distraction and sustained engagement with the Order line to thrust his broadsword into the Cherem Company leader's back. The light armor he wore didn't afford much protection from piercing attacks, and looking down he didn't need to be a doctor or know what a scapula was to know he was in a bad way. The tip of his enemy's blade poking through the front of his shoulder socket was plenty informative.

Before the conscript could pull his sword back from his opponent's back, a pair of arrows from Marica's bow slammed into his side. He lost his grip on the sword from the unexpected pain, but managed to get his shield up in time to absorb the first blow of Nova's Argent Greatsword. Nova's second swing glanced off the shield before crashing into the soldier's chest and further wounding him. As Nova retreated, Sphiel unloaded a _sleep frost_ attack that finished him off. Seeing the threat eliminated, and glancing over to see the next wave of Order troops weren't within striking range yet, Fret kneeled down, grimacing from the sword still stuck in his shoulder.

"Someone _please_ get this thing out of my back," stated Fret as evenly as he could.

"Hold still," replied Nova, sarcastically adding, "This is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me."

Fret refused to allow even a grunt escape his lips as Nova yanked the blade out and cast it aside, the sword clanking noisily on the stone path. A slight twitch of his face was the only indication he felt anything at all. Erin immediately cast a healing on him, which Fret himself followed up by guzzling down a _mega medicine _from his equipment pack. Retrieving his knife and swords from the dead archer and captain respectively, he tested the flexibility in his shoulder. _"Not ideal, but it'll have to do,_" he thought. "We've got more company, guys. Form up!"


	29. To Dust Ye Shall Return

A trio of conscripts formed the front line of the next wave of Order soldiers, with a Cynas captain behind them barking out orders. The captain had seen what transpired while they were approaching, but didn't realize the Cherem Company leader had been healed when he ordered his men to concentrate their attacks on him. The first conscript charged Fret, weaving his broadsword in a figure 8 pattern to gain momentum for his attack. He brought it down in a heavy chop towards his enemy's head, but Fret braced and raised both his swords, crossing them to form an 'X' up and out in front of him to catch the attacking blade. The muscles in his arms and chest rippled beneath his armor as he resisted the forceful blow. The frustrated conscript used the shield on his left arm to bash Fret in the right arm and shoulder, knocking him sideways and breaking the blade lock.

The conscript overplayed his hand at this point, thinking he had an advantage to exploit. And against a lesser opponent he might have. But Fret was far from average. He anticipated the conscript's follow up attack and ducked it in a spinning evasive maneuver that enabled him to immediately counterattack, slashing back with both of his swords. He caught the overextended conscript out of position, splitting open his side and thigh. The conscript gasped and attempted to backpedal in retreat, but his bad leg gave out and he fell. Fret pounced, kicking the shield away and thrusting a sword through his chest. He then used that counter as a springboard to launch his own attack against the conscript in the center of the Order formation.

Fret made quick work of the soldier. Hyperfocused, his skill and speed were too much for the less experienced conscript. For a brief moment he hesitated as he considered pressing his attack further against the Cynas captain, but opted against it and retreated to his starting position. Like the previous battle, the combination of Marica, Nova, and Sphiel finished off the remaining conscript, with Marica and Sphiel both using _spear torrent_ marks that left the captain badly injured as well. The captain limped to the front line in preparation of attacking, but Fret fired a _flame vortex_ mark that cut off his life before he had a chance.

Scanning the horizon, Fret determined that there were no more threats in sight. He quickly and quietly cleaned and resheathed his blades before resuming the northern progress along the road, with the unspoken expectation for the others to follow.

* * *

"I-I see what you meant before about him trying to do too much," commented Erin as the group marched. "Darn impressive though…"

Marica nodded grimly. "Yup… aren't you glad you got Jale instead?"

Erin smiled slightly at her friend's attempt to lighten the mood. "Don't worry, Marica, I'll be ready to help you catch him if he falls."

Marica returned Erin's smile with a weak one of her own. "I know… I couldn't ask for a better friend."

* * *

Chrodechild's team caught up with Fret's team about the same time they were arriving at the second gate blocking the road north. He was leaning forward with his forehead resting against the wooden barricade when she called out to them. As the two groups rejoined, she easily noticed his atypical behavior, and pulled Marica aside to ask if something was wrong with him. While Marica was giving her the 'highlights' of what happened and the rest of the team was comparing experiences in the fort, the gate suddenly began to open.

"The others must have reached the gate lever!" exclaimed Nimni. The rest of the group nodded in agreement.

"I want my team to keep the point," stated Fret. "Chrodechild's team will lag about a minute behind us, ready to provide reinforcement if necessary. I also want you guys to keep an eye out for anything approaching from behind us. I don't want any surprises."

* * *

"Old man!" shouted Fret. "What are you guys doing here?" The Cherem Company team had cleared the second gate, and shortly thereafter ran into the Auster folk Vaslof and Resno, along with two other Auster he hadn't seen before.

Vaslof roared with laughter. "My young friend, I should have known you would be able to get this far. Come to challenge yourself against me once again?" Vaslof respected Fret, but he was completely confident in his ability to defeat the young man's team. He'd done it a few times already in previous encounters.

"I don't get you, old man. You're such a nice guy, how can you possibly keep working for that evil kook Valfred?"

Vaslof smiled. "I do not make such decisions for my people, but I can tell you that we support the Order of the One True Way because our beliefs are compatible."

"You mean you guys believe in all that predetermined future crap too?"

"Not exactly. But we believe all things have their place in life, and things will happen according to the will of our ancestors. The Order believes that the future will come as it will and that we should not attempt to influence a different outcome. We support that belief."

"How can you claim the Order doesn't attempt influence the future!" asked Fret incredulously. "How do you explain Valfred manipulating where other worlds fuse to this one, and using that to wipe out their enemies?"

Vaslof looked at him like he had grown a second head. "What nonsense do you speak of? I know of no such thing."

Fret smacked his head in frustration. "Of course! You have no memory of the Magedom of Janam either, you probably think that desert world that recently appeared was always there."

"What desert? The only one on the continent I know of is the one south of Mt. Svatgol. And that has been on this world for far more seasons than I have."

Fret shook his head. "That's the thing, it hasn't. Until recently that desert didn't exist. It was another world, and that old kook Valfred used it to wipe out the biggest threat to the Order and its millions of people."

"You expect us to believe such a fairy tale?" interjected Resno. "Worlds appearing and disappearing, and conveniently only Cherem Company sees anything different?"

"I know to you guys it doesn't make sense," countered Fret. "I've got this book with me, I want-"

"Enough!" declared Vaslof. "Words are worthless. Let your weapons speak for you. If you defeat us, it is the will of the ancestors that we listen more to what you have to say. If not, it will only prove that what you say is false."

Fret gritted his teeth. "Fine, old man. You're going down!" Reaching cross-handed across his body, he snared the hilts of his scale swords and withdrew them from their sheaths, twirling them in his hands as he settled into a fighting stance.

"Oh, ho!" laughed Vaslof. "We will see. Maybe there is a first time for everything."

Activating his _masterpiece _mark, Fret attacked first. He launched himself into Vaslof, hitting him hard with both swords and knocking him back. As Fret returned to his starting position, Vaslof remarked in surprise, "You have grown quite powerful since our last meeting. A worthy challenge indeed!"

Marica and Sphiel both fired _spear torrent_ marks, with the double dose of heavy water scoring major damage on the quartet of Auster folk. Nova charged forward towards Resno, winding up to strike with his greatsword. The Auster female ignored the incoming attack and simply countered with her Great Hammer. Her attitude was that she was going to hurt her enemy far more than she got hurt. And she was right. Even as Nova brought his sword forward to bear, Resno's hammer came forward and drilled him in the chest. She grimaced from the pain of being hit, but her attack crushed Nova's chest plate and threw him back in the direction he came from, causing him to lose his weapon in the process. Vaslof jumped forward and stomped Nova while he was down, killing him. The other Auster on the front line charged Fret, who stepped back to avoid the incoming hammer before executing a spinning attack that brought both of his blades across the neck of his overextended foe. Fret wasn't strong enough to decapitate the thick necked Auster, but the blades penetrated more than deep enough to kill him.

"Damn!" shouted Fret. "Marica, get a _revival statue_ going! Sphiel, bring the snow!"

Sphiel threw her trademark _sleep frost _mark at the lone Auster on the back row, who was already in bad shape from the previous round of _spear torrents_. The secondary sleep effect was made moot as the primary attack buried him under an avalanche of ice that he couldn't withstand. Fret covered for Nova, who Marica had just raised, engaging Resno. He learned from Nova's mistake and didn't leap right into her counterattack. Instead, he unleashed a flurry of sweeps and slashes that forced her to defend as much as she could with the handle of her great hammer. She blocked some of the blows, but the weight of the hammer combined with the Auster propensity towards strength over dexterity worked against her. Fret back flipped out of the way after cutting her half a dozen times and further reducing her health to a critical level.

Vaslof charged forward again towards Nova, who had gotten back up but was trying to locate his sword and didn't immediately see the incoming attack. Fret dove across and shoved Nova out of the way of the attack, but in doing so he himself couldn't avoid Vaslof's hammer. The force of the bludgeoning blow broke ribs on his left side and sent him reeling. He spit up blood as he hit the ground with the wind knocked out of him. Resno stepped forward and attempted to crush Fret with a powerful blow from her hammer, but greatly weakened her attack was even slower than usual and through sheer will he rolled out of the way, screaming as the move caused the pain to flare even more. Erin quickly sent healing his way. It was nowhere near enough to get him to 100%, but it was enough mend the broken ribs and get him back on his feet.

Panting, Vaslof gestured towards Nova, who had recovered his greatsword, and asked Fret, "Why do you intervene for someone too weak to defend himself, taking the blow meant for him?"

"Protecting others is what I do, it's what _Cherem Company_ does," the young leader replied matter-of-factly.

"I am impressed, you've come quite far. But do you have enough to finish it?"

Fret glared at the older Auster male. "Oh yeah I do, and you're about get more power thrown at you than you can handle!"

Marica's eyes grew wide. "No, Fret! Don't use that mark! It's too dangerous!" she pleaded.

Not looking back, he replied, "I've got an even better idea, Marica, our unite attack!"

She stepped forward to his side on the front row. Setting down his sword, he took her left hand in his right. The husband and wife exchanged brief glances before focusing their attention on Vaslof. They raised their held hands forward, their wedding rings beginning to glow. A series of balls of blue flame burst out, carpet bombing the ground in front of Vaslof in rapid fire succession until they reached and blasted into him.

Vaslof fell to one knee gripping his chest, in shock both from the force of the attack and the actual technique of the attack itself. "H-how…" he muttered painfully.

"I don't want to kill you old man," stated Fret, "but if you won't concede then all I have to do is give the word and my mage will finish you off. I suggest you don't call my bluff," he warned.

Shoulders slumping, Vaslof raised his hand in front of him for Fret to halt the attack. "Y-you h-have done well," he grunted. "W-we concede, we w-will hear you out."

Fret grabbed his equipment pack and produced a pair of mega medicines. Handing the bottles to Vaslof and Resno, he said, "I'd heal you myself, but since you're not allies it won't work." To prove his point, he activated his _healing tide_ mark, which fully recovered his own health but did nothing for the two Auster.

"Marica, let's use revival statues on these other two."

She shook her head in response. "We don't have any more. They're not exactly easy to come by, you know?" He nodded solemnly.

* * *

Fret reached back into his equipment pack and dug out the Chronicle of _Noble Steel_ that he had brought with him. It was habit at this point to carry a Chronicle anywhere he went, he never knew when he'd potentially run into another Starbearer. "Put your hand on this book," he explained to the Auster folk. "Your memories might kick in."

Nodding skeptically, Vaslof and Resno complied. As Fret hoped, a white light flashed and the Auster received the vision and were revealed to be Starbearers, their memories flooding back. Fret began to explain in more detail what was going on with the Order and answering the Auster questions. While they were talking, the remaining 10 Cherem Company members from the other two teams came up to join them.

"Aha!" exclaimed Vaslof suddenly, interrupting Fret. "That explains it!"

"Explains what?" asked Fret, confused.

Vaslof smiled. "The unite attack you and… I think Marica is her name… were able to perform. That attack is called 'Husband and Wife', and until today I didn't know of anyone besides Resno and myself who could perform it. Now I know why…"

"Brave Vaslof, my old friend!" boomed Gorno, stepping forward to greet his fellow Auster. "Have you finally come to your senses and stopped being a hired goon for the Order?"

Laughing, Vaslof replied, "Gorno, as opinionated as always, I see! Yes, our young friend here has shown us the truth. We would be happy to join you in your struggle."

Fret's eyes grew wide in excitement. "Really? Sweet! This is awesome!"

Vaslof and Resno both laughed, it was hard not to at the young leader's infectious enthusiasm.

"Oh! Wait!" exclaimed Fret, still giddy. "You said you and Resno can do that unite attack? Gorno, this is the 'other couple' you told us about at our wedding reception?"

Gorno laughed heartily. "Yes! And it seems you already knew them!"

"This was the first time we've used it," said Marica. "Thanks again Gorno, it was amazing."

"Yeah!" agreed Fret. "It was like pow, pow, pow, wham!" He waved his hands demonstrably while eagerly trying to describe the action, drawing laughter from everyone around. Marica was especially relieved to see him back to his usual self. She and Erin made eye contact and smiled in acknowledgment of what each other was thinking.

"Before we leave with you guys, there is something you need to know," warned Vaslof. "Just north of here is an Order Archivist, a young girl by the name of Sophia if I am not mistaken. She is quite powerful."

"Sophia!" exclaimed Nova. "We have to go rescue her!"

"Rescue?" asked Resno, perplexed.

"Long story…" answered Fret. "You guys hang back here, we'll be back. My team, let's go!"

* * *

The Cherem Company group ran into the next area, finding Sophia waiting. "Sophia!" shouted Nova. "You must come with us!" he pleaded.

Sophia scoffed. "Spare me your plea, father should have killed you for your treason."

"Sophia, no! Listen! Valfred is using you! It's all a bunch of lies!"

"No! _You_ listen!" screamed Sophia. "Father has made me more powerful than you can imagine! And now you will see with your own eyes!" With that she summoned a group of dust minions, horrible creatures composed almost entirely of sand. Almost immediately the dust minions began to attack the party.

"What the heck are these things?" shouted Fret as his swords cut through one of the dust minions but seemingly did no damage. "It's like we're fighting a bunch of blobs of sand!"

"Our attacks aren't having any effect!" added Marica. Even Sphiel's _spear torrent_ failed to score any significant damage.

"We'll get them!" shouted Vaslof as he led the Auster folk into the fray. He smashed one on top of its head with his hammer, pounding it into the ground and causing it to dissipate. He and Resno repeated the same process with the remaining four dust minions, quickly disposing of them.

Sophia growled in anger at them, summoning 8 more dust minions and using the Chronicle that Valfred had embedded in her to transform herself into a sort of 6 meter tall dust minion queen.

"Nooooooo!" yelled Nova in horror. "Sophiaaaaaaa!"

"We can't fight all these and whatever she turned into!" exclaimed Fret. "We've got to get out of here and regroup!"

Nova continued to shout out. "We have to save her! We can't leave now!"

Marica grabbed him by the shoulders, getting his attention and sternly saying, "Nova, we _will_ save Sophia, but we can't right now. We have no way of dealing with this sand monster she transformed into. We've got to get back to the castle and figure out a plan. You need to be strong and hold it together, for Sophia's sake."

The older man looked at Marica. Still shaken up, he took one last long look at the dust minion Sophia before nodding sadly in resignation. The Cherem Company team quickly fled back to the south until they exited Fort Arc, then began to make the trek back to Castle Starcache to figure out what the next step would be.


	30. Domestic Abuse

The contingent of Cherem Company members, a dozen strong, was on its way back home from Fort Arc. Even though it was only mid-afternoon, they stopped in at the Grayridge Inn to rest overnight before continuing on to Castle Starcache. Business had slowed considerably since expelling all the Order soldiers from town, so the people were grateful for the consumer traffic of a dozen travelers in its midst, even if only for part of a day. The innkeeper was especially happy to see Erin and Logan, the old lady hadn't seen them since they had left Grayridge for Castle Starcache. Technically Logan still owned the inn, and he offered up rooms for the individuals and couples in the group at no cost. But Fret would have no part not paying. He insisted that the inn needed the money more than they did. After haggling with Logan about it and overpaying just to prove a point, he took the key given to him and headed to his room, while the others in the group did the same.

"Fret?" asked Marica tentatively, giving the weary boy sprawled out on the bed a fleeting look while she focused on the task of removing her armor.

"Uh huh?" he muttered in resignation after several seconds of silence, eyes closed and making no attempt to shed his own armor in favor of more comfortable attire. Truthfully he already knew what she was going to bring up. She wouldn't have forgotten what happened the previous day. She just hadn't had him alone to talk to since then. But no sense in revealing that to her, after all he could always hope that she'd just let it go this time. Even though he knew she wouldn't.

She released the last strap on her armor and let it fall to the floor with a thud. Looking more intently at him, she frowned and walked over to the bed without bothering to finish changing. Silently she began undoing the straps and buckles on his armor. He grinned and opened his eyes, realizing immediately by her icy expression that he had completely misinterpreted her intent.

"If you're going to try and dodge the subject by taking a nap," she chided, "the least you could do is keep your dirty armor off the clean linen."

Fret took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Yeah, I couldn't possibly be, you know, actually _tired_ now, could I? It must be that I'm avoiding something." He closed his eyes again, not bothering to do any of the work of removing his armor.

"_Don't_ take that tone with me," she warned. "You think I can't read you like a book?"

His eyes snapped open, flashing defiantly at her. "Oh, that's right," he said sarcastically, "you know me better than I know myself."

She pounced on him in the blink of an eye, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him forward as her other hand reared back and balled into a fist. His face barely had time to register the shock before his eyes watered heavily and blood trickled from his nostrils.

"Owww!" he yelped. "What the hell?"

"Are you done stonewalling me now?"

"Okay! Fine!"

"Get changed while I get a washcloth for your nose. You don't need to be dripping blood on the bed linen either."

* * *

By the time she returned from the wash room he was stripped down to just the shorts he'd worn under his armor. She shook her head, irritated with herself that even though she was mad at him, the sight of him in tight underpants and no shirt had a slightly arousing effect on her.

Taking the wet rag offered to him, Fret cleaned himself up while Marica finished changing into a knee length peach colored sundress. She might be on the tomboyish side, but after several days of wearing armor she was quite content to have the feel of something more feminine on her skin.

"So… about yesterday, huh?" he asked knowingly, sitting back down on the bed with his back pressed up against the headboard.

Marica flopped onto the bed on her stomach, propping her chin in her hands as she leaned on her elbows and dangled her feet crossed at the ankles above her rear. She smirked at him. "Gee, I guess that punch jogged your memory after all, imagine that."

He held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. You were right, I was trying to avoid the subject." He sighed. "Well… where do you want to start?"

She frowned again at the slight exasperation in his tone. "How about starting with why you're being so pissy about it to the person that cares about you more than anyone else does?"

"I-I'm sorry, Marica, I didn't mean it like that. I meant which one of my screw-ups did you specifically want to talk about, there were obviously a bunch to choose from."

"That's only because you let the first mistake lead to another and another, you know?"

He sighed. "Yeah, I know… I could even feel it happening, but it's like I was powerless to stop it. Like my body was just impulsively acting on its own."

"But my point is that you _know_ why… yes, you mismanaged that first battle inside Fort Arc, first in getting caught off guard and nearly skewered, then in using that mark you'd never tried out before without knowing what it'd do to you. But the bad decisions snowballed because you let it get in your head and started freaking out, like you were reliving the past again. You're way too hard on yourself, and you end up making things worse trying to make up for your mistakes. You demand perfection from yourself, but you're _not_ perfect."

"It's not that easy, Marica! When I make mistakes, my friends _die_. I don't have the luxury of mistakes! I _can't _make mistakes!"

"Fret…" she replied softly, moving closer until her face was close to his and she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. "You are _not_ that same boy… you have to let go of the past."

"I…I…"

"Listen to me… I know how traumatic it was, I was there," she reminded him. "So was Jale, so was Liu. Yet we trust you now with our lives. That's not something given lightly, you know? If we can trust you that much even while knowing your flaws, surely you can trust yourself?" With her lips she brushed aside the tears that had started trickling down his cheeks, kissing them away. "Mistakes happen sometimes," she continued, "but when they do it doesn't mean that your friends lose faith in you. Please understand that. What bothered me yesterday wasn't taunting that captain and then wasting your mana with the _dying wish_ mark. What bothered me was that after it happened I told Erin exactly what would happen next… and then you went and proved me right. You started trying to take on entire groups of enemies by yourself in an effort to prove yourself, and it almost got you killed. And what did I say the other day about you getting yourself killed?"

He looked at her sheepishly. "You really told her that'd happen before it actually did?"

She brushed her hand lovingly across his cheek and ran it through his hair. "Yeah… Fret, it's not like this hasn't happened before. And every time it does it both frustrates and scares me."

"I…I'm sorry…"

"I started to even tell her why it was going to happen. While we were waiting for that first gate to open, she wanted to go over and talk to you since you were obviously on edge. But I didn't say anything, I told her out of respect for you I needed to make sure you were cool with it before telling her the story. I did ask her to leave you alone though, and explained that she just needed to trust me, that it was for the same reason that I didn't gripe at you after the first battle and just gave you the mints to get your mana back."

Fret gulped, now realizing how much care she had gone to for him. "Marica?"

She looked back into his eyes expectantly.

"Forgive me for being such a jerk earlier?"

She giggled, pleasantly surprised. "Only if you forgive me for pounding you to get your attention."

"Well, I can't say I didn't deserve it."

"True… so how about instead, only if you'll start allowing yourself to forgive your mistakes, and to move on without compounding them?"

He closed his eyes, sighing. "I promise to _try_ anyway. Just… keep at me if I don't, okay?"

"I promise…" she whispered, sealing it with a kiss.

"By the way," he said, yawning for real. "I don't mind if you tell Erin the story. Or you can have Jale tell her if you want. I don't want just anyone and everyone around the castle hearing it, but I trust Erin not to go blabbing."

"Same here. And anyway, it wasn't like she insisted on hearing all the gory details, she just cares about you and didn't like seeing you all out of sorts. She's a great friend."

"Yeah, it definitely worked out for the best that you didn't put an arrow through her heart or whatever it was you threatened her with." Fret then began giggling, causing her to giggle as well. With the stress behind them, they curled up together and drifted off to a well deserved nap.

* * *

**AN: to throw in a disclaimer about an event in this chapter - I don't at all condone domestic violence. I don't think hitting your spouse/partner in anything other than self-defense is ever a justifiable action. So the actions of the story's characters and their thoughts on the matter don't reflect my own, and should be taken only in context of the story. Keeping in mind that I don't believe Marica's response is _right_, my thought in having her do it is that even though she and Fret are married now, they're still young and semi-immature and in some ways still retain the dynamics of their earlier friends/siblings relationship. Most people who have brothers or sisters close to their own age know all about beating each other up as kids :-) Marica would mature past that point by the time her teens gave way to her 20s, but she's not there yet. /disclaimer**


	31. Erin’s Story

He stood outside on the large terrace that served as an upstairs outdoor commons area for the inn, observing her quietly. She had her back to him, unaware of his presence as she leaned forward on the railing absentmindedly watching the daily bustle of the Grayridge winding down in conjunction with sun setting on the horizon. The fading rays of sunlight enhanced the sandy blonde's soft features with a radiant glow, an effect made even more striking by her choice of outfit. Having taken advantage of the expanded selection afforded from being home, she'd changed out of one of the long-sleeved slightly longer than knee length dresses she usually wore into a medium-low cut cobalt blue kimono dress that only came down to mid-thigh. The boy chuckled softly to himself, thinking that he was even happier with his decision to pass on dinner with his friends. The light sound of chuckling behind her was barely audible, but enough for her to notice. She turned her head, smiling brightly when she saw him standing there.

"Were you planning to just stare at me without saying anything until I noticed you?" she asked, grinning. He merely shrugged in response, smirking slightly while sauntering over to embrace her. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, a kiss which he eagerly returned.

Breaking the kiss, the teen boy whispered softly in her ear, "I guess the scenery was so breathtaking that it left me speechless."

"Jale!" she exclaimed, looking down. The tone of her voice indicated that she thought he was teasing her.

"Hey…" he said softly, cupping her chin and lifting her face back up. "Maybe that was a little over the top, but I wasn't teasing. Erin… you know I think you're incredible. The glow on you from the sun and this dress make you even sexier than usual."

Erin blushed slightly, smiling.

Jale gestured to over the railing and asked, "Looking out at anything in particular?"

"Not so much. Mainly just watching and thinking about how it's nice to see the town back to what it was before the Order came in and took over."

"I guess the Order really changed the town a lot, huh?"

Nodding, she replied, "You saw how crazy things were back when you guys first came through. That insanity was _not_ what I grew up with. This town owes you guys so much… _I _owe you all. I hope the people here never forget what you, Marica, and Fret did for them."

"Don't forget yourself in that list of people to thank, your role was just as big as ours, if not bigger. Then again, _we_ owe the old windbag Macoute as well," he replied, a light smirk tugging at his lips.

"What?! Why?!" asked Erin incredulously.

Jale laughed at her reaction. "If it wasn't for that buffoon we'd never have met _you_," he explained. "Or even if we did happen to meet you here at the inn, it would've just been a brief while passing through thing like with people we've met in other towns. If I had to choose between Grayridge never falling the Order but I don't get to know you versus the way things actually happened, well… I'll admit I'm selfish because I'm going to choose having you in my life every time."

Erin's heart fluttered. She had noticed Jale gradually opening himself up to her and not being so guarded about his feelings, but she felt like he had reached a whole new level just in the last couple of minutes. It thrilled her. "Well," she grinned, "He's not going to get on my holiday card list anytime soon, but you make a great point." She started giggling.

Jale touched a finger to his temple and closed his eyes briefly, playfully stating, "Mental note: do not send wedding invitation to Macoute."

Erin's giggling was interrupted immediately by her sharp gasp, while her eyes grew wide in astonishment at what he just said.

"Uhhh… I-I m-mean… y-you know… like if… y-you… and m-me…" he stammered, his face flushed with embarrassment.

She laughed gleefully, poking a finger in his chest. "Marica is sooo going to rag on you for that, you know? Who do you think will get it worse though, you for that weak non-committal proposal or me for accepting it? I bet it'll be you."

"I-I… I… d-didn't mean…" Jale groaned, putting his face in the palm of his hand. "Way to go Jale…" he grumbled out loud to himself.

Suddenly Erin became nervous that her teasing went too far. He had lowered his heart's guard quite a bit since they became a couple, but he was still fairly sensitive when it came to deeply personal feelings. "Shhh…" she whispered softly, "Don't get stressed out, I know you were just playing around. I wouldn't toy with your feelings or tease you about something you were being serious about."

Jale nodded, allowing a slight smile to form on his lips. "One of the many reasons I love you," he said. "And even though I didn't really mean that joke about not sending Macoute a wedding invite as anything serious, I _do_ want to marry you after all this One King stuff is over and done with."

Erin beamed, smiling brightly. "I'd like that too."

"Huh," he smirked, scratching his ear. "I guess this means I don't have to sneak around behind your back for a week and make you think I'm cheating on you with your best friend before surprising you with the marriage question?"

Erin laughed, remembering how badly she felt for her friend when Marica told her what she thought had been going on between Fret and Erin in the days leading up to his proposal dinner, but at the same time laughing with her about it. "Please don't," she replied, winking. "Fret has been distraught the last couple of days for some reason, so I'm sure Marica has her hands full with him anyway and doesn't have time for an elaborate scheme."

Chuckling, Jale shook his head. "Nah, she took care of that already, he's back to normal again. At least as normal as he can be."

"Oh, really?" she asked, relieved. "Marica seemed to know what was going on with him and thought he'd be okay, but I was worried about him anyway. I guess she knew what she was doing then if she got it sorted out that fast."

Jale laughed knowingly, causing Erin to give him a perplexed look. He waved his hand, saying "You'll get it when you see him next. Anyway, I'll still do something special for you, though I haven't planned far enough ahead to actually have a ring for you yet. But I'll get that taken care of."

Erin grinned. "Just remember that I don't need anything fancy, and that if you try to send me to Zenoa to clean the Tablet of Promise I'm going to rescind my acceptance!" The couple laughed heartily together.

"Changing the subject," said Jale as he ran a finger along the necklace she was wearing, "Something I've been meaning to ask you about. When Fret gave us these necklaces, you said to him it was the nicest thing anyone had ever given you. That got me thinking, what was it like for you growing up here?"

"Well, like most kids it had its ups and downs. I guess there were about three different phases or whatever. When I was really young my dad had a hard but well-paying job at the Grayridge mine. He workeda lot of long days and was tired most of the time he was home, but as far as Grayridge goes we were fairly well off financially. The mine eventually dried up and was closed, which put a lot of people out of work. I guess I was around 7 or 8 then. It was pretty rough on us for awhile because it's not like there was a lot of industry around this area to absorb all the unemployed people. Some people managed to get jobs doing other kinds of manual labor like farming or whatever, some of the younger and more physical capable went up north to Fort Arc and Cynas to join the Order's army, and so on. Some turned to less uhh, 'noble' pursuits in order to get by."

"After the mine closed," she continued, "mom and dad managed to scrape together enough potch to buy the inn from the old innkeeper, who was ready to retire and didn't have any heirs. They sold almost everything they owned to buy it, and as I later found out went pretty deep into debt. Mom had been the typical housewife and mother up to that point, and before then had lived at home with her family until marrying dad. She was a trooper though, even though it was the first time she had a job she worked incredibly hard with dad to make the inn a success. After a few years they'd pretty well caught up on the bank loans, and the inn was turning a small profit each season. Then mom suddenly got sick. The doctor didn't really know what it was, and her health deteriorated rapidly. She died a week before my 12th birthday. By then I was doing a lot of stuff around the inn like washing linens and dishes, and delivering and serving food to help dad out, and helping take care of mom of course. After she died the inn became more or less a permanent job for me, though dad always made sure that schoolwork came first. He always said his goal for me was to not be trapped into menial jobs because of a lack of education. But I didn't have the free time to run around and have friends and all. I guess I matured a lot quicker because of having all the extra responsibility thrust on me, and because outside of school most of the people I interacted with on a daily basis were adults."

"After that, we managed to do okay until the Order came to town. At first people thought the representatives they sent were crazy for all their predetermined future ramblings, but the people here are pretty simple folk. So when the Order showed they'd correctly predicted a few natural disasters most people bought into their _principles_. As the number of people who followed the Order grew, the ones that didn't increasingly got pressured to join until almost no one left resisted. Unfortunately, the local economy went back in the tank shortly after the Order assumed control of our government. That was in part from the Order reps assigning people to jobs rather randomly, without regard to a person's actual skill set, claiming people's career paths were predetermined and the Order knew what everyone should be doing. Naturally that led to a lot of incompetence everywhere. The other part was what you guys saw the first time you came to Grayridge. The Order had levied very heavy taxes on the town, claiming it was needed to support the town throughout a coming disaster. Many businesses went bankrupt trying to pay the tax, and many more like ours barely avoided going under. Some of the ones that did stay open made things worse by charging ridiculous prices for goods and services, trying to make enough money back to cover the tax and their own living expenses. We were charging more than our normal rates as well, but dad refused to outright rip people off even if it hurt us in the long run. Anyway, that had been going on for a couple of years when you guys arrived. We'd reached a point where we'd given the Order everything of value we had left that wasn't tied to the business to cover the last tax, and we had no idea how we were going to pay it the next season."

"Yeah…" said Jale softly, "I remember when we found your mom's jewelry in Macoute's hoard down in the mine." He shook his head, his resolve to help defeat the Order increasing even more after hearing Erin's story. "I'm sorry about earlier, being so casual in throwing Grayridge back to the Order in exchange for having you in my life. I… it was very inconsiderate of me, sorry."

She smiled, knowing he understood. "No worries, I appreciated the sentiment anyway."

"I know you were working as Macoute's assistant when we first met, trying to dig up some dirt and all, but how did you get that job? With all that predetermined crap, I'd assume he already had someone in that job and wouldn't exactly be taking applications for it."

She blushed. "I-I'm not real proud of it, but I took advantage of my uhhh… _feminine charms_ so to speak."

Jale's eyes grew wide in shock, thinking the worst. Erin grinned at his reaction.

"Come on, give me more credit than that!" she teased. "We know now he was a corrupt bastard, so it shouldn't be any surprise that when it came to him personally, the _principles of the Order_ were somewhat flexible. He stayed at the inn for a time before the Order formally assumed control of Grayridge, and I'd seen the old lecher checking me out quite a bit." She shuddered at the memory. "Basically one day I dolled myself up a bit and went over to his office dressed in something similar to this, and flirted with him when he took notice of me. It didn't go any further than that, and by the way never did after that either, but it was enough for him to declare that I was predetermined to be his assistant. Obviously I acted my role in the play, feigning interest and of course acceptance of the Order principles to get the access I needed. But no, I didn't let the scumbag bed me. The closest he got was kissing my hand, and even that was enough to make me want to puke."

Laughing, Jale remarked, "Earlier when I said your role was just as big as ours in taking him down, if not bigger? I'm definitely going with the 'bigger' now." She laughed with him.

Noticing the darkening sky, she asked, "I guess it's about dinner time, should we go join the others?"

Jale shook his head, grinning deviously. "Nah, I already talked to Fret and Marica and asked if they minded if I was selfish and kept you for myself tonight. They thought it was a great idea. Marica also filled me in on what happened yesterday with Fret and said he told her it was okay for you to hear a rather painful story from our past."

"I admit I'm curious what caused his behavior to change so radically, especially since Marica knew what was happening before it actually happened, and her reaction was so unlike her. She didn't get mad or scold him or anything, it was like she was just resigned to it."

Jale nodded. "Yup… even though I wasn't in your group yesterday, from what she said I know all too well what happened. Anyway, lead me to a good place to eat in town and I'll tell the story while we're walking…"


	32. Sacrifices

_Marica was beyond frustrated. The 12-year old girl was leading a small band of Citro Village Defense Corps members on what was supposed to be a routine patrol of the Citro Plain. Just a simple sweep southeast to the ruins and back, leave after breakfast and be back in time for dinner. So simple that Dirk, the 21-year old commander of the Defense Corps, not only hadn't felt the need to personally accompany the group, he hadn't even bothered sending any of the older and more experienced troops. The girl's main frustration was that even though Dirk had specifically placed her in charge of the mission, not everyone on her team respected her position. Two in particular, fellow 12-year olds and normally her good friends Fret and Jale, hadn't taken the mission seriously at all. They were goofing off and undermining her leadership at every turn, and basically acting like they could do whatever they wanted since there were no grownups or even older teens around. The other two youths weren't giving her any trouble at least, but then again she didn't expect them to. Kaari, the 11-year old daughter of Citro's trade goods stand owner, practically worshipped the ground Marica walked on. She simply did whatever Marica told her. Liu, the 12-year old boy who had only recently arrived in Citro Village, was still trying to prove himself and wasn't going to do anything that would make himself look bad when Marica reported on the mission to Dirk._

_It was a little after mid-day when the group reached the ruins near the southeast edge of the Citro Plain, where they had taken a brief rest in preparation of making the return leg of the trip. They had encountered resistance from wandering beasts along the way, though nothing unexpected and nothing they hadn't been able to easily handle. Unfortunately, for Fret the ease of the mission was translating into a dangerous combination of cockiness and boredom._

_"Alright, guys," said Marica, "Let's start heading back. Same formation as before, Fret and Jale are up front, Kaari, Liu, and myself are the backline."_

_Fret, who had been eyeing the ruins while the party sat nearby resting, spoke up. "Let's take a look around in there first," he said while gesturing to the ruins. "We've got plenty of time before we have to get back."_

_Liu, who had quickly become friends with the free spirited boy, looked up at him. "Didn't Dirk say we're not supposed to go in there, that it's too dangerous?"_

_Scowling, Marica barked, "Exactly! We're not going in there!"_

_"Oh, come on, Marica!" whined Fret. "Why do you gotta be so serious? Dirk wouldn't have even sent us on this mission if it was dangerous!"_

_"That doesn't make any sense," argued Kaari, reminding him, "The mission didn't include exploring the ruins." The petite girl with emerald eyes and long auburn hair drawn back into a single pony tail glanced over at Marica for approval, smiling when the older white haired girl rewarded her with a nod in agreement._

_Fret waved his hand dismissively, refusing to concede. "Back me up here, Jale! Don't you want to see inside? Imagine all the cool loot we might find!"_

_Jale was torn. On the one hand he did want to explore the ruins and had been annoyed when Dirk had expressly forbid them from going inside when he briefed them this morning. On the other hand, they'd already caused enough trouble for Marica with their behavior, and adding outright disobeying orders might get them in more trouble than it was worth. He and Fret were both known troublemakers, but the difference was Jale had more sense in knowing when enough was enough._

_"Dude! Of course I want to go in there!" he smirked in response to Fret. "But I don't want to get kicked out of the Defense Corps for it. Let's just come back some other time when we're not on duty."_

_"But we're already here! And Dirk won't kick us out just for exploring the ruins. I think-"_

_"Fret!" shouted Marica angrily. "I'll make this easy for you. I'm in charge here, and I say we're going back home, now! Discussion over."_

_Fret glared at her before snatching his cudgel off the ground, and for a brief moment took his place in formation. They'd barely taken five steps though before he peeled off and started walking with determination towards the ruins. _

_"Fret! What do you think you're doing!" questioned Marica bitingly._

_"I'm going in there," he replied steadfastly, not looking back._

_"Dammit, Fret! I ORDER you to get your ass back into formation!" she screamed. He ignored her, going up the steps to the entrance._

_"Fret! You're going to get yourself killed going in there by yourself!" she yelled, her tone a mixture of bitterness and pleading._

_He spun around on his heels, a smug expression on his face indicated he knew he had her. "Well, then you'd better come with me to make sure that doesn't happen, eh?" Grinning mischievously, he ducked his head and disappeared into the ruins._

_"Dammit!" she swore again, stomping her foot in rage. She wanted to kill him herself at this point, and desperately wanted just anything to hit to take her frustrations out on. The others knew there was no decision left to be made, and without a word they reluctantly followed into the ruins._

_

* * *

_

_The four entered the ruins cautiously, just in time to see Fret dispatch a large rat with his cudgel. Peeking back and noticing his companions, he nonchalantly replied, "ironripper rat, nothing serious."_

_Marica made eye contact with Fret, glaring at him with resentment. He'd completely usurped her position as group leader, forcing everyone to follow him in order to protect him from his own recklessness. He recognized her expression, she was practically his sister for all intents and purposes, and smugly winked at her in response, as if to say, "I've got it all under control." That only infuriated her more, and she thought to herself, "there will be hell to pay at the house tonight!"_

_The party ran into several more groups of monsters as they moved down the long dimly lit hallway, mostly more ironripper rats and anchor fishers, which were flying creatures akin to oversized bats. Progress had been slow because the ruins hadn't seen human traffic in ages and were overrun with all manner of vermin, and because the lighting wasn't very good. While the rats and fishers they'd encountered so far weren't very strong on their own, they were tough when they attacked in packs, and the group wasn't getting through unscathed. Fret and Jale, the group's melee fighters with cudgel and bone fists respectively, were both nicked and cut in multiple places. Marica with her wooden bow and Kaari with her boomerang had been very effective at taking down anchor fishers at range, but they'd still been scratched up pretty well by fishers that had flown by the front line and attacked from overhead. Liu was the only one who hadn't taken much of a hit. With his tree staff he was primarily launching ranged magic attacks, but when any fishers flew at him he simply used his staff to bash the birds in a melee attack. Marica found herself wishing she knew more about Liu's background, he was obviously more experienced in combat than he'd let on._

_"Well, this is helpful at least," remarked Fret as they explored a room off the main hallway. "I found a cache of mega medicines," he explained while handing out the vials, "So we can heal up."_

_"Fret," said Jale after each of them sucked down a mega medicine, "We're getting in too deep and the battles are getting tougher. We need to call it off and head back."_

_"But we haven't even found anything good yet!" Fret protested._

_"Fret!" exclaimed Marica, exasperated. "What good does it do to find loot if we die before we can get out?"_

_"Alright, alright!" he groused. "I'm going to go check the room across the hall real quick while you guys finish searching this room and then we'll leave. I'll be right back."_

_"I don't think going alone is a good idea," suggested Liu._

_Fret nodded in irritation. "Yeah, yeah… come on Kaari, let's see what's across the hall."_

_

* * *

_

_The door creaking open, Fret entered the darkened room with Kaari right on his heels. The slightly younger girl was very nervous, and was trying to stay as close to him as she could. Feeling her fear, he tried to reassure her while moving further into the room. "Relax Kaari, it'll be fine. We haven't run into anything yet we couldn't handle."_

_"'Yet' doesn't fill me with confidence," she admitted._

_"Hey, don't worry, I'll protect you. Besides, the others are just across the hall and will come running if we yell for help."_

_"I'm holding you to that," she said softly, "I don't like this one bit."_

_While talking, the two had made their way further along the side of the room, Fret keeping a hand on the wall so he wouldn't lose track of their position. The only light was a few dim beams of sunlight peeking through cracks in the wall, not nearly enough to illuminate the interior of the large room. Cracks and holes in the ceiling of the main hallway provided at most about 25 feet of visibility at any given time out there, but inside the rooms they'd found visibility to be less than a few feet. It made searching them very slow, and even more dangerous. On the far side of the room, Fret located an old wall lantern hanging. _

_"Are the matches any good?" asked Kaari. _

_"We'll never know until we try," he replied. She knew he was grinning even though she couldn't see his face. The first match he struck fizzled out immediately, but the second one burned long enough to light the lantern. The room gradually became bathed in the soft glow of light, still dim but enough to easily see the entire room. The first thing he noticed got his heart racing, a half dozen chests stacked up in the corner. He didn't doubt that they were full of goodies. "Sweet!" he exclaimed._

_Kaari's heart was racing for a completely different reason. What she immediately noticed when light filled the room paralyzed her with fear. She wanted to get Fret's attention, but she couldn't speak, couldn't move. Her mind screamed "No!" as he unconsciously pulled his arm away from her to go investigate the chests, but she couldn't vocalize it. He was rambling out loud, mostly to himself, and completely oblivious. _

_"Kaari?" he asked from behind. "I said give me a hand with this already!" When he didn't get a response, he glanced back over his shoulder to see what his friend was up to. That's when he saw the two biggest spiders he'd seen in his life, scythe spiders that were each about 2 meters tall and 3 meters long. It didn't even occur to him until later that the screams of terror he heard at that moment came from his own mouth._

_He managed to get a hold of himself enough to push Kaari out of the way of the first charging spider just in time, but got himself knocked down in the process. The scythe spider jumped on him, very intent on burying its poisonous pincers into his soft flesh, and it was all Fret could do to get his cudgel up and try to hold the spider off. He knew he wouldn't be able to for long though, the spider was far too strong and had the advantage of leverage. He was already losing his grip on the staff, and his inexperienced mind hadn't even begun calculating a 'Plan B' for when the spider finally got the wooden pole keeping him from his prey out of the way._

_Getting pushed by Fret had snapped Kaari out of her stupor, and even though the second spider was rapidly bearing down on her, she whipped her boomerang at the one that was attacking Fret. Her throw couldn't have been better under the circumstances. The sharpened edge of the boomerang sliced and severed one of the spider's mandibles, eliminating one of its pair of poison pincers. The wounded spider recoiled in pain, enabling Fret to scramble away in an awkward crab walk. _

_The young girl that saved Fret's life had no chance to save her own. Her boomerang wasn't even back in her hand before the second spider's pincers plunged deep into her chest, injecting their fast acting poison into her bloodstream. The excruciating pain Kaari felt from the puncture wounds in her chest subsided seconds later, when her vision went dark and her heart stopped. _

_Fret's grief-stricken scream was interrupted by the first spider jumping back on him. He hadn't even recovered his cudgel yet after scooting away from the spider the first time, and was left to trying to hold the spider's lone remaining poison pincer off with his leather booted feet. Just when he thought he was about to be overwhelmed, the spider suddenly leapt off him and spun around. As Fret scrambled for his weapon, he saw the arrows sticking out of the shrieking spider. Marica was nailing it as fast as she could manage, trying to take it down before it could resume attacking. _

_Jale and Liu cornered the second spider, each taking turns attacking while the spider focused on the other. They weren't doing much damage, but they were succeeding in holding it off. The frustrated spider kept switching to the opponent that attacked her last, only to get hit by the other right after she did._

_Marica's arrows combined with the wound Kaari inflected had slowed the first spider considerably. The spider was indecisive on whether to run away from or charge Marica, and the bow wielder took advantage by continuing to fire arrows into the spider's body. She was terrified, acting almost entirely on self-preservation instinct. Having retrieved his cudgel, Fret slammed the thick wood staff down hard on the spider's head, stunning the wounded beast. Through unfocused bloodshot eyes he glowered at the scythe spider as he repeatedly bludgeoned its head, over and over well beyond the point of the spider death. He didn't stop until the spider's head wasn't even recognizable as such, until it was just a bloody pulp barely attached to the body. He then dropped his cudgel and fell to his knees in a sobbing heap. Marica tried to get his attention to help with the second spider, but he couldn't hear anything. He crawled over to Kaari and held her lifeless body in his arms, weeping._

_The pair of boys working over the second spider had gradually whittled down its health, attacking it in tandem while simultaneously keeping it on the defense. From between the boys arrows began to rain in on the spider, speeding up the process of its demise. Eventually the spider went down, and the companions all turned their attentions towards their fallen friend. Free from having to focus all their concentration on defending their lives, their emotions finally spilled out and the weight of their grief became crushing. _

_"This is all your fault! We weren't even supposed to be in here!" Marica screamed at Fret, jumping on him and punching him repeatedly in the chest and face. "You got Kaari killed!" He didn't have the strength to push her away, his will to defend himself broken. He absorbed her beating for what seemed an eternity but was only about 10 seconds before Jale pulled the girl off his pummeled friend, holding her back until the insults and fury directed at Fret faded into sobs of sorrow. _

_For his part, Fret made no effort to wipe off his bloodied face as he sat up. He just stared dumbfounded at his fallen friend, still in disbelief that this was really happening. Excuses he floated in his mind to try to ease the guilt he felt were relentlessly and brutally cut down, constantly bringing him back to the truth of Marica's stinging accusation – "you got Kaari killed." He assured Kaari he would protect her. She died protecting him. His empty promise 'don't worry, I'll protect you' and her response 'I'm holding you to that' echoed in his nightmares through many seasons to come._

_

* * *

_

Erin had been staring at Jale in stunned disbelief for several minutes as he told the story. He briefly choked himself up over the old grief resurfacing, which caused her to stop walking alongside him and pull him into an embrace of comfort. She'd figured something bad had happened in the past from the way Marica had acted the previous day, but she'd never suspected anything like this.

"W-wow…" she finally exhaled, shaking her head in disbelief. "Wh-what happened after that?"

Jale shrugged, frowning. "Liu more or less pulled everyone together and got us out of there. He was plenty upset at Kaari's death, but was obviously less emotionally invested because he'd only been in Citro Village maybe a couple of seasons at that point. Anyway, Fret insisted on carrying Kaari's body back to town and refused to let anyone help him. When we came up on a battle he'd gently set her down to fight, then pick her back up and continue on. And I remember he was like a whirlwind in the battles on the way home, like he was possessed or something. Half the time he'd take out an entire group of enemies without any of the rest of us getting a single attack off. Anyway, he carried her like that for probably about 4 hours until he finally collapsed in exhaustion right outside of town."

Jale shook his head at the memory, continuing. "He was freakin' delirious, screaming curses at me because I carried Kaari's body the rest of the way into town. It didn't even register to him that he couldn't even walk under his own power at that point, let alone carry another person. One of the grownups out in the fields heard the commotion and came over, and ended up carrying _him_ back to Elder Rajim."

"I imagine it didn't go well for him once people found out what happened?" asked Erin quietly.

Jale took a deep breath and exhaled. "You'd be right about that. Marica didn't pull any punches in retelling what happened, particularly in her report to Dirk. He immediately threw Fret out of the Defense Corps altogether, he had no choice. I mean, he loved Fret like a little brother, but he also had an obligation to the town to uphold. It was two years later before he finally relented and let Fret back in. Dirk also suspended me for 3 seasons for insubordination. Most people in town were upset but accepted it as a tragic mistake, though there were a few families that wouldn't let their kids play with Fret after that. And Marica wouldn't even hardly look at him, let alone talk to him."

"How long did that last?"

"Honestly? About 3 weeks. She's quite stubborn, you know?" Jale chuckled softly. Who knows how long it would've lasted though if he hadn't finally cracked."

"What do you mean?"

"He was having a hard time coping, he was harder on himself about it than anyone else was. I mean, he never even once tried to make any excuses for it and he refused to allow anyone to lump the rest of us in on the blame for Kaari's death. After the first week or so he hardly left the house because he said he couldn't deal with all the stares and comments people would make. You know, where they're supposedly talking behind your back but intentionally saying it loud enough for you to hear?"

She nodded sadly.

"Anyway, all that was wearing on him, and Marica pretending he no longer existed didn't help any. And as you know, Fret grew up in Citro but he technically wasn't born there. Even though he was a baby when he was found and brought to the village and no one had ever treated him differently because of it, for some reason he had always had this self-imposed stigma that somehow he was an outsider. After a few weeks he decided to run away, thinking it'd be better for everyone if he left Citro and never came back."

Erin gasped. "Did he actually leave?"

He shook his head. "He tried. Fittingly enough, Marica caught him sneaking out of the house one night carrying an equipment pack with all his stuff. Apparently Fret was lying to Marica about what he was up to, trying to get her to let him leave the house by himself, and then Sisuca got up when she heard them arguing and found the goodbye note he'd left to the family on the dinner table."

"Ouch…" sighed Erin. "Did he even know where he was going?"

"He hadn't really thought that far ahead, I think he was just planning to keep walking until he came across another town. Guess he figured if Liu could do that at the same age we were, then he could too. Obviously he never made it out the door that night." Smirking slightly, he added, "And I don't think Marica has hardly let him out of her sight ever since."

Erin smiled slightly as well at the comment. "So how did you react when you found out he tried to run away?"

Jale laughed. "I'll give you one guess."

She grinned at him. "You were pissed he didn't ask you to go with him."

He laughed again. "Pretty much…"

Erin shook her head sadly. "I know it was years ago and that he brought it on himself, but wow do I feel so sorry for him. Knowing this now, I wish that yesterday I'd have just wrapped the big doofus up in a hug and comforted him."

Jale raised an eyebrow at her quizzically, his smile dissipating.

She saw his reaction and placed her hand tenderly on his cheek. "Don't start getting jealous that I care about him too. It's not like that, Jale. Hopefully from our earlier conversation it's obvious that place in my heart is only for you," she whispered softly.

He nodded slowly as his smile gradually returned. "I can accept that. I mean, I guess it's no different really than how I feel about Marica."

"And I wouldn't think anything of it I saw you hugging or comforting her about something, other than of course wanting to know what was going on because I'd want to comfort her too," grinned Erin.

"Well," replied Jale, smirking, "at the rate you're going we'd better get inside and sit down to eat before you start finding random people on the street to hug and comfort."

She smacked him playfully on the arm before laughing. She then hooked her arm around his and the two climbed the steps to the restaurant. Resting her head on his shoulder as they walked, she was as happy as she'd ever been, and selfishly glad that she had him to herself tonight. As they reached the top step, the door swung open to reveal Fret and Marica leaving.

"Hey, guys!" exclaimed Marica. The friends traded greetings.

"What happened to your face?" asked Erin, noticing the purplish black rings under Fret's eyes and the slightly swollen nose.

"Domestic abuse," he replied mockingly, gesturing in the direction of his wife. Marica rolled her eyes in response.

Erin's eyes opened inquisitively as she looked over to the other girl. Marica and Fret both chuckled at her reaction. Suddenly Erin stepped forward and hugged Fret tightly, leaving both him and Marica bewildered by the action.

"Uhhh… it's okay, Erin. I kinda deserved it anyway, I was being a tool."

"Nah, dude," chuckled Jale. "She's just been dying to comfort someone. At least it wasn't a random townie on the street."

"Well, at least _one_ woman understands that comfort isn't a sucker punch to the chops," replied Fret sarcastically as he grinned at Marica.

"That wasn't comfort, _dear_, it was an attention getter," Marica reminded him.

Erin pulled back, playfully pouting as she looked at Jale. "He told me about Kaari while we were walking over here," she explained, noticing his face twitch slightly at the reference. "I felt so bad for you."

Fret scratched the back of his head nervously, unsure of how to articulate his thoughts. "Well…" he began, "Don't pity me, I don't. I mean, it was my mistakes and bad decisions alone. The victims are the ones to be pitied, the friends and family I hurt. I wasn't a victim, I was the one responsible for it." He fell silent, staring down at the ground in thought. Marica took his arm and pressed herself closely up against his side, reassuring him through her physical presence.

"Still…" replied Erin, "It's an awful burden to carry. I think it explains a lot though, not just about yesterday but about you in general."

The other three looked at her with puzzled expressions. "What do you mean?" asked Fret.

"Think about it for a minute. You're fiercely passionate about defending and helping others, lending your strength to those in need without any regard to the risk to yourself. Have you ever thought about why that is? Someone close to you that you swore to protect died protecting you. I think even if you don't realize it, that guilt drives you. It's like in your mind is a scale, where on one side you have the need for atonement and on the other the need for approval from others. The more approval you get for good things you do, the less need to atone and prove yourself you feel. But it doesn't seem to take much to tip the scale back in the other direction, so when something like yesterday happens, it's like your brain resets and says you're back to square one in atonement versus approval, back to the day Kaari died. And then you start going 100 miles an hour , desperately trying to swing the balance back the other way."

The others stared at Erin in stunned silence. Fret felt like his friend had ripped his heart open and laid it bare, and at the same time in a matter of minutes had opened up his brain and shuffled the jumble of puzzle pieces into a coherent picture.

Marica spoke up first. "Are you saying that he basically helps people just to feel better about himself?" she asked skeptically.

"No, at least not consciously anyway. I firmly believe his conscious reasons for helping others are pure, and I believe he is completely sincere when he shies away from taking credit for things. So I'd be surprised if thoughts like that ever crossed his mind. But when you peel back the layers I think it's fairly easy to see that Kaari's death is a huge motivating factor behind his actions. Fret was the one that was gung ho about helping expose Macoute's corruption, and later about rallying against the Order. Why would a kid who'd hardly ever been outside Citro Village be so adamant about defending the world from the largest military force on the continent? Saving people he'd either just met or never met? You have to admit that's not normal."

"True, but Fret and 'normal' often don't go together anyway," giggled Marica.

"So, man, how do you feel after having your brain dissected like that?" asked Jale sarcastically.

"I feel… naked," admitted Fret solemnly. "She makes a lot of sense though."

"I think she could analyze what's going on in people's heads for a living if she wanted to, she's amazing," remarked Marica, making Erin blush slightly. "Anyway, you guys go eat. We already finished so we're going to head back to the inn."

Jale nodded. Grinning at Erin, he teased "Go ahead and hug him again before they leave, get your fix in now so you won't have to start hugging people inside."

Everyone laughed, but Erin went ahead and hugged Fret again anyway. The friends then went their separate ways for the night.


	33. Siege the Arc, Take 2

It had been more than a season since Cherem Company's failed attempt to take Fort Arc. After returning to the castle by way of Grayridge, they decided their next course of action was to go with Vaslof and Resno to the Auster city of Lugenik and meet with the chief of their clan. Liu thought it was especially important since only the Auster Folk had been particularly effective in dealing with the dust minions at Fort Arc. Vaslof also wanted to show Chief Kashgar that the Auster had been deceived into supporting the Order of the One True Way and now needed to join Cherem Company against the Order.

The trip to Lugenik was arduous, traveling through a large part of the desert and then the volcanic Mt. Svatgol before reaching the cliff-side city. Mt. Svatgol in particular had been difficult to navigate, even with the previous experience Fret's team had after they found an entrance to it from inside Grayridge mine about a year ago. That was back when they ran into Gorno a short distance into the volcanic mountain and recruited him. Back then they didn't get very far into Mt. Svatgol before retreating to the mine, because the beasts they were encountering were tougher than anything they'd ever faced. This time around Fret and Marica had Vaslof and Resno with them, but between the extreme heat from the volcanic core and the strength of the monsters living there, it was still a very physically challenging journey.

After reaching the other side of Mt. Svatgol and passing into Lugenik, the party was able to meet with Chief Kashgar. The chief, however, turned a deaf ear to what they had to say, and was openly skeptical and borderline hostile to them as enemies of the Order. He told Fret that the only reason he even allowed them to remain free was because they were companions of Vaslof, who was widely respected among the Auster. Vaslof suggested that they could force the chief to listen to them if their ancestor Ordovic willed it. Fret thought it was crazy, but went along with the plan. The team entered the Auster temple, but had to fight their way to the shrine's altar when the oracle soldiers, Indrik and Dilwica, refused them passage.

After defeating the guardians and reaching the altar, the Chronicle of _Noble Steel_ in Fret's possession began to glow. It was revealed that Ordovic was not the first Auster ancestor like the Auster Folk believed, but was rather a warrior from another world who had fought alongside the Auster in their original world's failed battle against the One King. He had been trapped ever since in that world. For awhile after the fall of their world he'd been able to communicate with the Auster through the oracle, but it had been many years since the Auster had heard Ordovic speak. The reason for that was that the Auster had lost the Chronicle of _Noble Steel_ to the Order, the same Chronicle that Fret and the others recovered from Macoute's stash in Grayridge mine. Losing the Chronicle cut off their connection with their original world, and their memories of their own history faded.

The power of _Noble Steel_ freed Ordovic, drawing him into the shrine where the Chronicle bearer stood. He went to Chief Kashgar with Fret and company in tow, along with the now convinced Indrik and Dilwica. Finally Kashgar was willing to listen, and when he touched _Noble Steel _he, along with the two oracle soldiers, received the vision from the Chronicle as Starbearers. In response, Kashgar was both outraged at Chancellor Valfred for the Order's deception and apologetic for his previous behavior. He humbly offered the service of the Auster Folk to Cherem Company, and Fret gladly accepted their partnership. While Fret and company left for home, Kashgar and Ordovic stayed behind to organize the Auster before joining the company back at their castle a short time later. They had barely settled in at Castle Starcache before Liu called a meeting to lay out the strategy for the next attack on Fort Arc. He had a sinking feeling in his gut that they were starting to get short on time to stop Valfred from summoning the One King.

* * *

Fret paced back and forth restlessly in front of the gathered group in the Grand Hall of the castle. "I'm telling you, it was crazy, Liu. Other than Sphiel's _spear torrent_ doing a little bit of damage, the only ones who could even hurt those dust mites were the Auster."

"Minions…" remarked Marica offhandedly.

"Huh?"

"Dust _minions_, not mites."

Fret rolled his eyes. "Close enough!"

"Or not…" grinned Marica.

"Come on, guys…" said Liu, trying to get the discussion back on track.

Chief Kashgar, leader of the newly recruited Auster Folk, spoke up. "I have committed my entire clan to your cause, if you need all of us to go deal with this menace we shall."

Ordovic, the giant that the Auster still believed to be their first ancestor, and who was content not to shake that belief, agreed. "The Auster owe you greatly for revealing the truth of the Order's deceit. We would willingly lead the charge against these dust creatures and help Cherem Company take Fort Arc."

"No one owes anyone anything," protested Fret, waving his hand dismissively. "Besides, you guys just got here. We can't put it all on the Auster to fight this enemy."

Liu chuckled. "With all due respect, chief, Fret isn't the kind of guy to stand back and let others fight a battle for him."

"A leader must know his own limitations," offered King Diulf of the Furious Roar. "He must be able to set pride aside and do what's best for his people, and to put his people in the best position to succeed."

Frowning, Fret continued to pace without looking at anyone in particular. "_Am I really letting pride get in the way here?" _he asked himself.

"If I may?" interjected Chrodechild. All eyes turned towards here. "It seems to me that the key to fighting this enemy is to use strike attacks. That is, attacking with weapons that inflict damage from blunt force rather than slashing or piercing. It is probably unnecessary to only send Auster Folk, but it probably _is_ necessary to only send physically strong Starbearers who use bludgeoning weapons."

"Or mages that have water-based marks of the stars," added Liu.

"And any Starbearer that has the _sand crumbler_ mark could go, like Nimni," ventured Neira, high priestess and queen of the Porpos-kin.

"I guess I'm none of the above…" grumbled Fret, irritated that he very well might have to sit this battle out.

Jale and Marica looked at each other, puzzled. Both of them had the same thought. "Dude!" exclaimed Jale, shaking his head.

"What?"

"Has it really been that long?" he smirked.

Fret sighed, exasperated. "What are you talking about?"

"You haven't always used swords, you know?" said Marica, prodding him.

He grinned, the realization setting in. "Of course! I gave away the bone club, but I can use my old cudgel for this battle! Woo hoo, I'm in!" he shouted gleefully, drawing laughter from those that knew him well and uncertain looks from those that didn't.

Liu shook his head, chuckling. He understood his friend all too well. "Alright, so I think we should send three teams like last time," he stated. "Kashgar, Ordovic, Vaslof, and Resno should be one group. Neira, Nimni, Diadora, and the Auster Folk Dilwica and Indrik will be the second team. Fret, you'll take Nova, and I'll go with you as well since I might be able to suppress her Chronicle with my own. Focusing on that will prevent me from fighting though, so what other two do you want?"

Fret pondered it for a moment. "Marica can lean on her _spear torrent _mark and can also heal, so she'll be one." She smiled inwardly, ecstatic that he wasn't leaving her behind. "I think I want another tank since I'll be less effective than usual with a cudgel and honestly I don't know how well Nova will do with a hammer instead of his greatsword. Let me have Dromon, he should be able to bludgeon the crap out of those dust balls with that Anchor++ he carries."

"Sounds good," agreed Liu. "Kashgar, Neira, Fret, let your team members who aren't present here know you'll be heading out for Fort Arc in the morning. Everyone's dismissed."

"Dismissed?" asked Jale sarcastically.

"As you wish, my master," stated Fret in an overly formal tone while bowing deeply to Liu, causing most of the others to laugh and Liu to blush in embarrassment. Fret then cracked up laughing himself at Liu's discomfort. Chief Kashgar looked at Ordovic for his reaction before scowling.

"What kind of leader is this that behaves like a child?" he demanded. Silence immediately set in over the room as all eyes focused on Kashgar.

"Lives are at stake here! The lives of _my _people!" he boomed. "And you deem it appropriate to keep making jokes? Is this the level of concern we are to expect from you on the field of battle? Surely there is someone more responsible in charge of this company?"

Fret folded his arms and stared stone-faced at the man who had just called him out, contemplating what to say in response. As the seconds elapsed, the silence in the room became increasingly uncomfortable to everyone but the two locked in a stare down. Almost anyone would crumble under the heavy glare of the Auster chief, but there wasn't anyone alive that could intimidate the Cherem Company leader in the manner Kashgar was attempting. It was the classic ploy of a bad leader, the type that leaned on the authority of their position as a crutch to bend people to their will rather than inspiring people to follow of their own accord. And what Kashgar didn't know was that titles didn't mean a whole lot to his young counterpart.

Chrodechild finally felt compelled to break the silence. Clearing her throat, she said, "With all due respect, Chief Kashgar, Lord Fret's lighthearted manner should not be mistaken for a lack of concern. The stakes are greater than all of our lives here combined. We _all_ live with that pressure every day. He carries that burden as much as anyone."

Kashgar scoffed. "And why should I believe _he_ is worthy of leading my people in battle? No one else finds this immaturity disturbing?"

"Do _not_ take us for fools!" growled Diulf. "You act like you are the only one here who is a leader of their people. I myself am king of the Furious Roar. Neira is queen of the Porpos-kin. Princess Chrodechild will return to assume the throne of the kingdom of Astrasia when this war is over. Prince Shams is heir to the throne of the kingdom of Salsabil, and to the Magedom of Janam before the Order wiped it out. His sister, Princess Manaril, is with us as well. Fret's father Rajim is the elder of Citro Village. Liu is elder of the tribe of Scribes. Gilliam is the leader of Grayridge. Asad was captain of the Mage Army of Janam." Having covered the leaders in the room, he continued, "Another Starbearer not present in this meeting, Tsaubern, is a noble from the kingdom of Ritterschild. Yula is a war priestess from the Empire of the North Star. Wahie is the Guru of the tribe of Wanderers. Hina is the princess of Lonomakua. Diadora and Nova were in high level positions with the Order before defecting to Cherem Company."

"I think the point my furry friend here is trying to make," explained Neira, "is that many of us have the same responsibility to our people as you do to yours." Channeling the voice of the sea goddess Ninulneda, she added, "And I bestow my blessings upon young Fret and Cherem Company!"

"It's unfathomable to think we'd all be here if we didn't believe in Fret," ventured Shams. "It's not like he holds any formal authority over any of us."

Gilliam nodded in agreement. "And I believe more than a few of us have actually fought _against_ him as well, myself included. How much more of an endorsement can a leader get than inspiring _enemies_ to join his cause of their own free will?"

"I guarantee there's no one better to have on your side in a battle, chief," suggested Liu.

"I can attest to that," replied Vaslof. "Not only is Fret a skilled warrior who bested four of the strongest Auster in combat, I have watched him throw himself in harm's way simply to protect a companion from being injured."

"He risked his life to defend my people when we were not even allies," added Diulf.

"And risked his life to both recapture my kingdom from the Order and to defend it against a counterattack, with no expectation of any benefit to him personally," added Chrodechild.

Asad smiled at Kashgar. "Chief, I doubt there's anyone in Cherem Company that he hasn't either put his life on the line for or personally helped in some significant way."

"So please, don't question his _level of concern_," said Marica insistently. She had been fuming earlier when Kashgar went off on Fret, but hearing the others step up in his defense had calmed her considerably.

Fret's outward expression had barely changed, but inside his emotions were aflame from what his friends were saying.

"Hmph…" replied Kashgar, looking around at everyone before his eyes settled on Fret. "It would seem you have very loyal followers."

Fret shook his head in disagreement. "N-not _followers_, chief," he said, his voice crackling slightly with emotion. "_Friends_." Not trusting his voice to continue speaking, he simply smiled and nodded thankfully to his friends, his eyes communicating his gratitude more than words could. He then turned and left the Grand Hall with a very proud Marica at his side.

* * *

The second siege on Fort Arc began much like the first one, with an early morning storming of the south gate. The teams quickly discovered that there weren't any soldiers left, that the only inhabitants in the fort were a multitude of dust minions and their dust queen, Sophia. The two teams led by Kashgar and Neira respectively cleared the way for Fret's team, which enabled them to reach Sophia with little resistance. The young Order Archivist was already in her dust queen form, and Fret wondered if she'd been like that the entire time since they were last here.

The battle with Sophia was tough. Fret knew he'd be less effective with his old cudgel, but it did frustratingly little damage. Nova did even less, despite wielding a great hammer like most of the Auster. The Cherem Company leader couldn't decide whether Nova's heart just wasn't in it having to attack his own daughter, or if he was just that incompetent with a hammer. He hoped it was the former. Dromon was most effective as far as physical attacks went, but even the burly pirate struggled to do much damage per attack. Making things worse was that dust Sophia focused her _silence sand _attacks on Marica, several times inflicting silence and preventing her from getting off either a _spear torrent _or a _healing wave_. And since she was silenced she couldn't even use her _cure glow _mark to cure the silence effect. During the course of the battle she burned through all the cough drops she had in her equipment pack, which cured silence. But it still made the battle slow and tedious. Eventually though they wore dust Sophia down. In the end, Liu was able to suppress Sophia's Chronicle long enough for Nova to get close to her. She reverted to her normal form as the Chronicle left her body, and she recognized Nova as her real father before collapsing from injury and exhaustion. Nova scooped her up and they carried her back to the castle for treatment and recovery.

* * *

"Sophia…" whispered Nova. Behind him stood Fret, Marica, and Diadora, waiting patiently for her to speak. It had been a few days since her knock down drag out fight with Cherem Company. The girl had been mostly unconscious since they'd brought her back to the castle and left her in Zahra's care. Once she became more coherent, Eunice explained where she was and what happened. Sophia requested an audience with Fret, who at Marica's suggestion brought Nova and Diadora with them to talk to her.

The young girl blinked her weary eyes open, her expression a mixture of fatigue, pain, and uncertainty. Upon seeing Nova's face, a weak smile formed and she mouthed, "Dad…" in response. Nova struggled not to choke up, it had been a long time since he'd heard that from his daughter.

"I must tell you all," she continued, laboring, "the chancellor is close to completing the ritual to summon the One King."

"Darn!" hissed Fret. "How close?"

Sophia appeared thoughtful. "Losing me and the Chronicle of _Boundless Amber_" is a setback to him, so he now needs two more false Chronicles instead of just one." She closed her eyes briefly before reopening them. Sitting up she offered the Chronicle to Fret. "Here, take _Boundless Amber_ so you can get new marks of the stars from it." She lay back down and closed her eyes again tiredly.

"Sophia," said a concerned Nova. "Don't exert yourself, you need to rest."

The girl nodded weakly. "I…" she began before losing consciousness again. Eunice quickly stepped in to check her, confirming for the group that the young girl had merely passed out from exhaustion and would be fine with continued rest. Nova sat down quietly at the edge of the bed, intent on staying at her side while she recovered.

Walking towards the door, Fret remarked, "I definitely have a lot more to ask her once she's up and going again, but for now we'll let her recover."

"It sounds like Valfred has made more progress since I left," added Diadora. "We have to get to Cynas soon."

Fret nodded solemnly. "I wonder what the odds are we'll locate the remaining Starbearers before it's time to march on Cynas?"

"Do you think we'll need all 108 to succeed?" asked Marica.

"I don't know… I don't know," he admitted. "Assuming Sophia officially joins, that'll give us 99. We can double-check the Tablet of Promise to make sure, but I'm pretty confident she's a Starbearer and not just artificially able to use marks like some of the other Order's Archivists."

They'd learned from Zenoa that the Tablet of Promise represented all of the Starbearers in the current world, with 108 slots for the different stars. As each new Starbearer was revealed, their name became magically etched on to the tablet in place of the generic placeholder. Ironically enough, that fact didn't become clear to Fret until after he'd sent Marica to clean the tablet as part of his keeping her out of the way while preparing for the dinner in which he proposed to her. She mentioned in passing later that the number of names on the tablet had grown quite a bit since the last time she'd been down there. Since then, Fret had spent a lot more time down in the castle basement with Zenoa than Marica was comfortable with, mainly because Zenoa was so creepy and rarely in the mood to say anything useful, let alone nice. The bald ebony witch usually seemed on the verge of being annoyed enough to attack them if they didn't hurry up and leave. But they'd learned that each world had exactly 108 stars and that the stars themselves were always the same. Only the people inhabited by the stars - the Starbearers, changed. Of the 108 stars, there were 36 _Stars of Heaven_ and 72 _Stars of Earth_, and the Starbearers were identified with the name of the star inhabiting them. Fret himself was called the _Tenkai Star_, otherwise known as the _Chief Star of Heaven_. That designation meant he was the first Starbearer in this world, the leader of them all. Marica was the _Tenei Star_, another of the Stars of Heaven also known as the _Heroic Star_. Marica had excitedly told Jale and Erin that their stars sounded like a perfect match for each other, with Jale being the Star of Heaven _Tentai Star (Retreating Star)_ and Erin being the Star of Earth _Chiin Star (The Shadowy Star)_.

Diadora nodded solemnly to Marica's and Fret's comments. "It will be to our advantage to have as many as possible. Also, I have heard of a technique that involves combining the power of all the stars in a single attack. Perhaps something like that could be useful against the One King if we knew how to do it."

Fret's eyes grew wide. "Like some huge unite attack with all the Starbearers at once?"

"I suppose… I do not know anything more about it, to be honest."

"Fret!" exclaimed Jale, running up and interrupting the trio. "You gotta come to the Grand Hall fast! Dirk is holding Liu hostage and demanding to speak with you!"

"W-What?" gasped Marica.

"Dirk!" gritted Fret through clenched teeth, already beginning to run towards the stairs that would take him back up to the 4th floor of the castle.


	34. Hostage Negotiations

Skidding to a stop, Marica stared in horror at the sight in front of her. The agile girl had easily outpaced Fret and Jale in the race from Dr. Zahra's clinic on the 2nd floor to the Grand Hall on the 4th floor. She noticed immediately that not only was Dirk holding Liu hostage, he had also managed to take the _Tatau Council_ Chronicle from him. The Chronicle's tribal tattoos that she'd only recently gotten used to seeing on Liu were now bore by Dirk instead.

"Dirk!" snarled Fret, trailing Jale into the room, the boys running half a dozen seconds behind Marica.

"Well, well…" replied Dirk smugly, smirking arrogantly at the trio. "The gang's all here."

"What the hell are you doing here?!" demanded Fret.

With mock hurt, Dirk answered, "Is that any way to talk to your mentor, practically your older brother?"

Fret gritted his teeth. "That guy is dead. I don't know _you_."

"What's your game, Dirk?" asked Marica in a taciturn tone. "You obviously made a point of sticking around instead of just fleeing with the Chronicle."

Dirk looked amused. It wasn't lost on him that she was leaning close to Fret, holding his arm. Flashing a sardonic grin he answered the question with one of his own, "What's this, Fret? Taking advantage of your position and making nice with the ladies? I didn't think you had it in you."

"What are you talking about?"

Laughing, he replied, "You being a player, of course! Bet you've scored all kinds of girls as _leader _of Cherem Company, eh? Back at Salsabil you were banging that blonde blademaster, and now I see you with Marica. Can't say I blame you though, I wouldn't be able to resist tapping that sweet ass either if I was in your position."

If nothing else, Dirk knew how to push the younger man's buttons. Fret's smoldering anger was rapidly flaring into a raging fury. "Do _not_ talk about my _wife_ like that!" he warned the former leader of the Citro Defense Corps, his voice laced with venom. "I might not get talked out of killing you this time!"

Marica bristled at Dirk's remarks. She stiffened in response not only from Dirk's lecherous glare, but from the implication that something had gone on between Fret and Chrodechild. Her mind was torn about it. On the one hand, it didn't add up since she and Fret were already a couple and it was right after that mission when he proposed to her, and also Asad and Chrodechild were a couple when they all got back from Salsabil. But on the other hand, she hadn't missed that despite Fret's livid response, he hadn't denied the accusation.

"Wife, eh? I'm hurt, you didn't even invite me to the wedding. Looks like I touched on some nerves?" asked Dirk sarcastically. Nodding towards Marica while maintaining eye contact with Fret, he continued, "I'm guessing she either never knew or it's a sore topic she'd rather forget."

Fret opened his mouth to reply, but before any words came out, Jale interrupted. "Enough of this, Dirk. You've got about 5 seconds to get to the point before we kick your ass and take the Chronicle back."

"You want the Chronicle back? Easy… Fret here is going to meet me outside and we're going to have a little duel." Looking at Fret he added, "I've made sure you'll have to show you can take me without resorting to those fake skills of yours." He then warned the group, "And to ensure he comes alone I'm taking Liu here as collateral."

Jale frowned, thinking something didn't feel right about the situation. Liu seemed nervous, but not in a fearful way. And his lack of reaction to Dirk's statement made it seem like he wasn't surprised by it. _"He never did really like having those tattoos, maybe he feels a bit of relief to have them gone,"_ he mused.

"We'll stay out of the way, Dirk, but Jale and I are coming too," declared Marica.

"You intervene and it's game over," warned Dirk. "I'll be gone with the Chronicle and Liu, and I promise it won't end well for him."

"Fine…" growled Fret. "I'll gear up and meet you outside the main entrance in 15 minutes." He spun on his heels and stalked angrily from the room.

* * *

Silently stewing, Fret finished fastening his scabbards to his belt, completing his physical preparation. He closed his eyes briefly and attempted to calm himself down, exhaling in frustration at the situation. He had no fear of Dirk, but he was beyond tired of him showing up at inopportune times and forcing confrontations. Fret was also irritated that despite knowing when Dirk was saying things just to mess with his head or get a reaction, he wasn't able to stop himself from reacting just the way the older male wanted him to. He needed to find focus, and quick.

Mentally chiding at himself for being rattled, he turned around to leave his room when he saw Marica standing in the front room, watching him pensively. He made eye contact, but she averted her eyes. The fleeting glance he did catch looked preoccupied. He assumed she was worried for him.

"Hey…" he said gently, "No worries, I _will_ win this."

She forced a weak smile. "I know…" she said softly, turning to the side and looking out the window.

He opened the door to leave. Standing with the inside door handle still in his hand, he asked Marica if she was ready to go. After several seconds of silence without an answer, he asked if something was wrong.

Marica hesitated. She desperately wanted an answer from him, but she knew it was incredibly selfish to bring up the subject now. "I… no, nothing that can't wait." She turned back to face him. "L-let's go," she said resolutely as she walked towards the open door.

Before she could go through, he pushed the door shut and folded his arms. "Nuh uh… not until you tell me what's wrong."

She looked at him in surprise. "We don't have time for this! In case you forgot, Dirk is waiting for you outside and has Liu held hostage!"

"I always have time for you. I don't care what the situation is."

"Hmph… Oh, really?" she asked sarcastically.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Am I the _only _one you have time for?" she asked acerbically, immediately kicking herself mentally for blurting that out.

"What?!" he exclaimed in exasperation. Shaking his head incredulously, he asked "Is this about what Dirk said?"

"You didn't deny it…" she noted sourly.

In the blink of an eye Marica found herself slammed up against the wall next to the door, her head held firmly in place by her husband's strong hands on either side of her face. She gasped in shock, both at the action itself and that she'd never seen him move that fast outside of combat. He pressed his face close to hers, forcing her to look into his eyes. She could feel his hot breath on her face, and it gave her chills.

"You listen to me carefully…" he whispered sharply, his eyes flaring with resentment. She gulped, and would have nodded if she'd been able to move her head.

"It _should_ have gone without saying that Dirk was talking out his ass, but since it didn't I'm going to make it crystal clear to you…" he continued, his voice harsh and uncompromising. "_You_ are my first and only. There's never been anything between me and Chrodechild… or Erin, or Maybelle, or whoever else you can think of. I didn't deny what that jackass said because my only thought was to defend _you_, because I wasn't going to let him talk about _you_ like that. Because _you_ mean everything to me, and it pisses me off to no end that I have no fucking clue how to prove that." He added with intense bitterness in his voice, "And that you would give the benefit of the doubt to that asshole over _me_."

Marica was still forcibly staring into his eyes, albeit through blurry vision as his stinging words drew tears. She knew Fret, he didn't swear much, and the only times he did it to this degree were when he was very upset.

"I know you have confidence in me as a leader and as a fighter, but I _don't _know why you lack so much confidence in me as your husband and partner… or how the hell I'm supposed to fix it." He released his grip on her and pulled back. Her mind searched frantically for the words to say, but she couldn't find them.

He sighed in frustration at her lack of response, giving up. "Anyway, I've kept Dirk waiting long enough. Better go end that relationship before I get suspected of fucking _him_ too," he added cynically. He knew he was pushing it too far, but he felt this was now a pattern of behavior for Marica and he was tired of it.

She wanted to stop him, to scream he was wrong, but she couldn't give voice to the thoughts running rampant through her mind. He left her to her indecisiveness, slipping out the door and closing it behind him.

* * *

"You ready for this?" asked Jale. It was more out of habit than actually questioning his friend. He'd been standing just outside the door to the castle waiting for Fret and Marica to come out. Dirk and Liu were a little ways off. They were clearly in view, but well out of earshot.

Fret shrugged. "Ready to get it over with…"

"Where's Marica?"

"Not sure she's coming now… she believed what that idiot made up about me and Chrodechild."

"Dude, seriously?"

"Yeah… anyway… I'll worry about that later," said Fret, already beginning to walk towards Dirk and Liu.

"Well, well… about time!" called out Dirk smugly. "And here I was beginning to think you were going to chicken out."

"Let Liu go," replied Fret, ignoring the taunt while unsheathing his twin dragon scale swords. "And let's get the party started."

Dirk cackled gleefully. "Go…" he commanded Liu, who immediately went over to stand with Jale and Marica, who herself had just arrived.

"Now…" began Dirk, waving his hands dramatically, "This is the part where I do this!" His face contorted momentarily, and Fret felt the marks of the stars within him being suppressed.

"There!" declared the older male. "Now you won't have those fake skills to rely on in this duel!"

Fret shrugged. "So here's where you cheese out and make it a completely unfair fight by turning into a demon beast?"

Dirk scoffed. "No, this is where you and I fight one on one, man to man. I need to see what you're capable of without any outside help, relying on your own strength."

Twirling his blades, Fret darkly replied, "Well, if an ass kicking is what you want, that's what you'll get."


	35. Die to Live

The Order Archivist lunged forward with his spear, intending as much to test the younger man's defenses as to catch him off guard. Fret parried the strike with his right blade, knocking the spear aside with a backhand sweep. His sword had barely made contact with the spear when he released a forehand chop with his left blade that dug deep into his opponent's exposed right side, scoring flesh after splitting through the leather armor. Dirk grunted in pain and pulled back, grimacing.

"What's the matter, old man?" asked Fret sarcastically. "Playing librarian for the Order dull your reflexes?"

Dirk scowled, knowing there was truth in that accusation. Ignoring the pain, he lunged forward again. This time he faked a thrust that Fret didn't bite on, then faked a left to right sweep that Fret jumped to avoid. Dirk then stepped forward and attacked staff-like with the base of the spear, bringing it around in a right to left bludgeoning attack. He caught the teen in mid-air, and the combined force and weight of the steel spear colliding with his chest knocked him flat on his back and took his breath. Stepping forward again, Dirk thrust the tip of his spear at Fret's stomach, intent on staking him to the ground with it. Fret didn't see the attack coming, but anticipated it anyway and rolled out of the way at the last moment. Dirk's spear did stake itself into the ground, but without a body attached. Wheezing slightly, Fret climbed to his feet while Dirk freed his spear from the ground.

"Still a sucker for the double fake I see," said Dirk snidely. "And here I thought you'd actually improved. Guess I was wrong… Tell me, Fret, how many more friends have you gotten killed with your incompetence? Do you still see her face in your nightmares?"

Fret growled in anger. Suddenly he began to glow, and a few seconds later when the glow faded he felt his marks of the stars again.

"Wh-what? That's im-impossible!" declared Dirk. "I suppressed those fake skills!"

"Maybe they aren't as _fake_ as you think, Dirk. You ever think that maybe the marks of the stars are just a part of who I am?"

Dirk simply scoffed in response.

"You know what though?" muttered Fret darkly. "I'm not even going to use them against you, I don't need to. Go on, keep thinking you're so much better than me, I'll make you pay for it!"

Fret leapt forward to engage his opponent, swinging his swords in blinding arcs of sustained fury as he pressed the attack, unleashing his full arsenal of moves in an all-out offensive barrage. He knew his stamina was at an all-time high, and it was a likely advantage to exploit. Dirk succeeded in parrying or avoiding the attacks for awhile, but the relentless assault prevented him from getting off any attacks of his own, and eventually proved overwhelming. After knocking the older male completely off balance, Fret dropped his swords and drew his knives before moving in close to finish him off with a series of stabs and slashes. The coup de grâce wasn't without irony to the younger man, it was a move he had learned from Dirk and had recently taught Marica. When Dirk thrust his spear wildly in a desperate attempt to fend him off, Fret avoided the strike by sidestepping and spinning around behind him, planting a knife in his back. Dirk gasped and fell to his knees in shocked agony, unbelieving that his former protégé had just defeated him straight up in a duel.

"Ugh…" groaned Dirk as Fret ripped the knife from his back and mercilessly wiped the blood off on Dirk's shirt sleeve before resheathing it.

"Underestimate me now!" sneered Fret. Recognizing the duel was over, Jale, Liu, and Marica came running while Fret picked up his discarded swords.

"I-I g-guess you d-don't get your power to f-fight from those skills after all…" Dirk grunted painfully.

"What?" asked Fret incredulously. "You think we fight because we have the marks of the stars?"

"If… if not th-that, then why?"

"You big dummy!" scolded Marica. "We fight because it's the right thing to do! Marks of the stars or not! We don't fight because of the marks, and they're not the source of our strength. They're just tools!"

"What she said…" replied Fret, nodding in Marica's direction.

"I… I n-never knew… all I ever wanted was… was for th-things to go back to h-how they used to be," lamented Dirk.

"You can't blame us, Dirk, for how things turned out," remarked Jale. "It never mattered to us that we were Starbearers and you weren't. We didn't drive you away to go join the Order, you made that decision-"

Jale stopped in mid-sentence, his words cutoff when a white light flashed brightly overhead, covering the whole area. The Cherem Company group all looked at each other in horror, they knew exactly what that light was.

"Nooo…" pleaded Marica to no one in particular. "It can't be, not here!"

"Dammit!" shouted Fret. "Look at your great leader now, Dirk! That bastard Valfred is trying to wipe us out and he doesn't even care if you're caught in it too!" He grabbed his equipment pack and dug out a _mega medicine_, tossing it at Dirk's feet. "Heal up, we'll save your sorry ass." Fret looked to the others. "We've got to get everyone through the castle gateway. If we're quick enough we can escape to Pharamond before the fusion hits. Go!"

* * *

"What do you mean it doesn't work?" asked Fret, beginning to panic. Word had quickly spread through the castle about the coming fusion, and the grounds outside near the gateway were quickly filling with Starbearers ready to leave at a moment's notice.

The wanderer Hotupa eyed the leader of Cherem Company wearily. "I-I don't know, maybe the world fusion is interfering with the operation of the gateway. All I know is that I can't make it work!"

"Diadora!" called out Liu. "Is there anything you can do? Can you summon some portals to get us out of here? To anywhere?"

The former Order Archivist shook her head. Whatever it is, the effect is preventing me from summoning portals as well."

"How long do you think we have?" asked Fret. "Can we make it out of range on foot if we leave now?"

Diadora pondered the question for a moment. "Doubtful. This is Valfred's doing, so the epicenter of the fusion is likely the castle here itself. Even if it is a small fusion, there is nowhere near enough time to get out of range." She added somberly, "I would give it no more than an hour before the fusion hits."

Fret closed his eyes, an overwhelming feeling of helplessness beginning to come over him. Suddenly he had an idea. "What about Zenoa? She showed up out of nowhere, does she have any tricks up her sleeve?"

The ebony witch stepped forward. "I do not. I have already attempted to summon a portal, and failed."

He nodded solemnly. He was determined not to let the anguish that threatened to take him succeed in doing so, like it already had with quite a few of the others there.

"Come on people!" he yelled. "Put your heads together, we need options! Don't you all quit on me now!" The steely resolve in his eyes gave no room for wavering. A few minutes of pacing later he saw Sophia come up to them.

"Diadora, I know the Chancellor uses the True Chronicle to control where world fusions take place," she began. "Do you know if there's a way to combat that with the False Chronicles?"

The older woman closed her eyes, placing her hand on her temple as she thought. "Perhaps, but it would take a Chronicle that Valfred hasn't already used. And even then I'm not sure we have the power to wield it like that."

Dirk spoke up. "That is a technique the Magedom of Janam tried. They were only partially successful though, saving Salsabil but not El-Qaral."

"What do we have to do?" asked Liu. "We've got the _Tatau Council_ Chronicle that hasn't been in the Order's possession, so it should qualify."

"I must warn you," Diadora advised, "It is extremely likely that the one who uses the False Chronicle to redirect the fusion will die. And it takes the True Chronicle to actually control the placement of the fusion. At most, all we will be able to do is redirect it randomly to another location."

"So we could be unintentionally condemning other people to their demise," added Sophia. Murmurs spread through the crowd as the Starbearers discussed the situation with each other. Finally Fret waved his hands and called for everyone to be quiet. When the noise settled down, he began to speak.

"Alright, so we know what we're up against. I don't like our options anymore than you guys do, I really wish there was another way. But we're running out of time, and if we don't act now we won't get the chance to later."

He continued, "As much as I hate the idea of potentially wiping out another city, I think we all understand that if we're gone, this world absolutely falls to the One King. It's not a matter of doing this just for the sake of saving our own necks, this entire world dies if we don't redirect the fusion."

Pausing as he looked briefly up at the sky, he took a deep breath and continued. "I ask that after this is all said and done, that each of you forgive me for this decision, and understand that I don't make it easily. I ask that when I'm gone, you all keep on fighting the Order and the One King with everything you've got, because I believe in you guys and I know you can pull off the impossible!"

"Wait, what are you talking about _when you're gone_?" asked Marica, already the nagging suspicion forming.

"He means to use the Chronicle himself…" said Liu hoarsely, realizing what his friend intended to do.

Fret nodded. "I've never asked anyone to take a risk I wasn't willing to take myself, and I'm certainly not going to ask anyone else to sacrifice themselves. I'll do it."

"Y-you c-can't!" shrieked Marica, grief washing over her immediately. "N-no! You c-can't die and leave me alone! You can't!" Fret knew he was breaking her heart, and he couldn't prevent the tears from forming in his own eyes. He pulled his sobbing wife into his arms, holding her as tightly as he could.

"As touching as the moment is, you've got one little snag in your plan," remarked Dirk, drawing the attention of those around him. "_I've_ got the _Tatau Council_ Chronicle, and well… I'm not giving it to you."

Fret looked at Dirk in complete disbelief. "Wh-what? After all this you're still going to let Valfred win?"

"I didn't say that." Dirk sighed in resignation. "Guys…" he said softly, "I've screwed things up for myself so far beyond redemption. I don't have a place with the Order, I don't have a place with you, and I don't even have a place back home in Citro Village anymore because everyone knows what I've done. _I _will use the Chronicle. I only hope it begins to make things up to you. I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to stand with you before…"

"Dirk!" shouted Fret.

"Shut up!" shouted Dirk right back at him. "There's no more time! I'm doing it and that's _final_!"

Dirk glowed in soft green light as he activated the _Tatau Council_ Chronicle and began the fight to redirect the world fusion. He grunted and contorted with pain, growling as the process tortured his body and mind. "N-need m-more p-p-power!" he screeched. "Ac-activ-vating Ch-chronicle of _F-Furious Roar_!" he stammered, his body visibly shaking from the brutal assault of the Chronicle's power.

He glowed even brighter and screamed in agony as he drew on the power of both Chronicles. Finally the white light above exploded, leaving in its wake the sunlit blue sky that had been there prior to the fusion starting. In the excitement of successfully avoiding annihilation, it took a moment to notice that Dirk was gone. The only thing that remained in the scorched spot where he'd been standing was a burned out skull and the _Furious Roar_ Chronicle that had been embedded in him.

"Dirk! Noooooo!" wailed Fret. Marica, Jale, and Liu joined him in sobbing and crying at the loss of their friend. Liu bawled even louder when moments later the now familiar tribal tattoos reappeared on his face and body, confirming with finality that Dirk was gone for good. Despite most of the group having grown to hate Dirk in the time since he defected to the Order, his last confession and apology had almost entirely erased that animosity.

The other Starbearers, grateful and ecstatic to be alive, respectfully left the scene to celebrate. They understood that even though the gang from Citro Village was equally grateful for Dirk's sacrifice, they still needed to mourn his death. The quartet of friends sat mostly in silence together on the grass while they grieved. After a time, Len-Lien and Erin came out to join them, sitting quietly and comforting Liu and Jale respectively.

* * *

As the sun began sinking on the horizon a couple of hours later, the group finally got up to make their way back inside.

"If I'd known Dirk was going to do this, I'd never have given him the Chronicle in the first place," muttered Liu sadly.

Jale stopped in his tracks, causing Erin to yelp as she'd been holding on to his arm and the unexpected stop nearly caused her to fall. "Wait," said Jale, "given?"

The others just realized what had been said. "I thought Dirk stole it from you?" asked Marica. "You _gave_ it to him?"

Liu's expression exposed his secret.

"You _did_ give it to him!" Marica exclaimed. "How could you?"

Liu sighed. "Well… Dirk said he wanted a showdown with Fret in order to settle their differences, and asked me if I'd help him stage the hostage thing in order to get him to fight."

"You _bastard_!" screeched Marica. "You put Fret's life at risk, and potentially put our entire company at risk, by conspiring with an enemy? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I-I'm s-sorry…" said Liu weakly. "I… I didn't th-think Dirk was lying or anything. I j-just wanted them to make up and be friends again."

"So you took a known liar's words at face value without even considering that he was manipulating you to do something harmful to us?" asked Jale in an accusational tone. "Seriously? You realize you basically sided with Dirk over Fret?"

"I… don't have anything to say in my defense. I'm sorry, it was a bad decision."

Jale shook his head. "Liu, you're lucky that we're all emotionally spent. I can't even work up the energy to kill you right now."

Marica looked up into Fret's eyes briefly before turning back to the group. "I… I made the same mistake as well. I mean, not what Liu did, but I also believed something Dirk said rather than trusting Fret." She looked back at her husband. "I'm so sorry, Fret. Please forgive me for doubting you."

He smiled and pulled her into a hug. "Of course… hey, it's been a long day for all of us. Let's all consider everyone forgiven and move on, okay? Besides, I'm hungry and would really rather go sit down and eat than fight anyone else." The others nodded in agreement, chuckling lightly at his joke before going back inside together.


	36. Patterns of Behavior

Erin frowned as she walked into the tavern, the sandy blonde immediately forgetting her own sleepiness. It was still a half hour before dawn, and she was up to do her job of getting the place ready for breakfast. Ordinarily she was alone at this hour. Her dad and chef Wustum wouldn't be there to start cooking until just after day break. But this morning it appeared they already had a 'customer'. Sitting at a table in the corner with his chair leaned back on two legs against the wall was a barely dressed Fret. He was shirtless and barefoot, only wearing a pair of loose fitting black cotton pants. Judging by the progress on the bottle of wine in front of him, he wasn't exactly sober either.

"Fret?" she asked tentatively as she approached, not wanting to startle him. "Wanna talk about it?"

He glanced up at her, briefly considering the question before shrugging. "I don't know, I might get suspected again of having sex with you if you get too close."

"I thought you forgave her for that?" she asked, a little miffed at his attitude. "Why are you still harping on it?"

Laughing sarcastically, Fret replied, "Oh, I _did_ forgive her. Doesn't mean it won't happen again though."

"What do you mean?"

"Yesterday was just the latest time. The 4th or 5th time it's happened though. She doesn't trust me." His face bore a pained expression in the dim flickering glow of the lantern lit room. He picked up the bottle and took another drink before setting it back down on the table.

Erin folded her arms, shaking her head as she sighed at him. "Wait here," she said as she grabbed the bottle off the table, taking it away from him. "I'm going to put on a pot of coffee so you can start sobering up. I'll be back in a few to resume this discussion."

Fret didn't respond, but merely leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.

* * *

Marica woke to the sound of someone at the door. Noticing it was still dark, her immediate thought was, _"Who the heck needs something in the middle of the night?" _Realizing she was in bed alone, her next thoughts were, _"Why isn't Fret here? Did something happen?"_ Fumbling her way groggily to the front room, she called out, "Yeah? Who's there?"

"Marica, it's me, Erin. Sorry to wake you up at this hour, but it's about Fret."

The door opened, and the suddenly concerned Marica stared at her friend questioningly. Erin filled her in on finding Fret in the tavern. Marica nodded, saying she'd get dressed and come down to the tavern. Erin left her to do that, heading back downstairs.

* * *

Pushing a mug of coffee across the table to Fret, she asked him, "So why don't you think Marica trusts you?"

"I already told you, because she keeps thinking I'm banging every girl that I'm friendly with. It's a freakin' pattern of behavior with her."

"Other than when we were planning your surprise dinner, which admittedly _was _suspicious, have you asked her what you've done to make her think that way?"

"No… I-I just kept hoping each time that she'd get I wasn't like that. I don't know what her problem is."

Erin walked back across the room, working as she talked. "Her _problem_ is that she's insecure, and this is the way it comes out."

"Insecure?" asked Fret incredulously. "No way, she's got a lot of self-confidence."

Marica was approaching the tavern when she heard the two talking somewhat loudly, loud enough for her to hear from outside the room. She paused while debating on whether or not to enter and interrupt. Curiosity got the better of her though, and she opted for now to stand out in the hall and listen.

"I mean she's insecure when it comes to _you_," explained Erin. "If you haven't noticed, you're her world. From what I know about you guys, you've been her main focus most of your lives. Have you considered that maybe at times she gets terrified about losing that?"

"Great… so I have to suffer for it?" Outside in the hall, Marica winced.

Erin glared at him, putting her hands on her hips and leaning forward as she spoke. "First off, you can stop acting like you're a victim! You're not as innocent as you think you are."

"When have I even flirted with another girl, huh?! Other than the misunderstanding over us I've never done anything for her think I'm interested in someone else!"

"Fret, I'm not even talking about that! Marica's insecurity runs deeper than that. It's not only about losing you to another girl, and you make it worse on her because sometimes you can be pretty damn selfish when it comes to other people's feelings."

"Yeah," he replied sarcastically, "I'm just a selfish bastard. Never mind that yesterday I was prepared to kill myself to save everyone."

"You know what? That _was_ selfish!" countered Erin, wagging her finger at him. "You gave no consideration to her feelings or anyone else's. You made this monumental decision all on your own that affected all of our lives and then basically said 'deal with it', at least until Dirk refused to let you."

"But-"

"You wanna talk patterns of behavior?" interrupted Erin, her voice rising along with her irritation. "Why don't we talk about how _you_ rarely make anyone feel like they're actually _needed_ by you? You guys all think Jale is guarded, but in a lot of ways you're no different. You're friendly and caring and incredibly generous. And sure, you let people help you and make them feel _wanted. _But you refuse to let yourself _need_ them. You're a rock for so many people, but you don't let anyone be a rock for _you_.

"That makes no sense, I need help all the time!"

"It's a big difference between being wanted and needed, and it's a big difference between needing someone to do some physical task for you and needing them in _here_." She tapped her hand on her chest over her heart for effect. "This is what I'm talking about. You wanna know why Marica is insecure about you? It's because when it comes right down to it, she _needs _you, but you don't make her feel like you truly _need_ her. She knows you _want_ her, of course, but that's not the same."

"She's right, you know?" said Marica guardedly. She'd quietly entered the tavern a couple of minutes earlier. Erin had noticed her there, Fret hadn't. "I _am_ insecure…" she added softly to herself, her voice barely above a whisper.

"So to sum myself up," began Fret snidely as he recounted what Erin said about him back in Grayridge as well as just now. "I'm guilt driven, I selfishly help people only to feel better about myself, my decision making is also selfish, and I make everyone feel like I only need them as far as doing things for me goes. Wow, Erin, I'm just a piece of shit human being, eh?"

Erin's lips quivered as she fought the frustration welling up inside of her. "No, you're drunk and need to go to bed," she replied sharply.

"Well, great… let's add that to the list of my shortcomings too. Any other brilliant insight to add?"

"Fuck you, Fret," answered Erin bluntly.

"No… remember, you wanting to do that was how the conversation started in the first place?" he asked crudely.

Erin stomped her foot, visibly shaking with anger.

"Fret!" exclaimed Marica, shaking her head at him. "If you want to be mad, be mad at me. Don't take it out on Erin. She doesn't deserve this."

Erin was beginning to lose the battle with the tears that were trying to form. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing them, however. "Get out!" she hissed at him before turning and stomping away angrily to the back room.

Marica sighed, resting her forehead in the palm of her hand. Looking back up at Fret, she said, "Come on, you're going to bed before you say or do anything else you'll regret later."

* * *

A few hours later, Marica sat quietly at the bar in the tavern, eating her breakfast and contemplating the events of the last couple days. Seeing the ongoing consternation in her expression, Logan decided to speak up.

"You look like someone kicked your puppy, lass. Something I can help with?"

Marica looked up, smiling weakly. "Thanks, but it's a girl problem. I-"

"Say no more," smiled Logan, holding his hands out in front of him and chuckling lightly.

Marica nodded. "Hey, Logan?"

"Yes, lass?"

"How much trouble would it be for you to install locks on the wine cabinets?"

The older man raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Okay, what's going on? That's the second time I've been asked that this morning."

"Dad said the locks are already there, he's just never bothered using them," answered Erin impassively. She'd just come back behind the bar after clearing some tables.

Marica looked at Erin in surprise. "You didn't tell him?"

Erin pursed her lips, silently shaking her head.

"All I know is that someone apparently helped themselves to some wine and then caused problems for her this morning," explained Logan. "I told her she needed to let Fret know so he could deal with them."

Marica averted her eyes, suddenly finding the food on her plate very interesting. Not looking up, she asked, "Erin, after what he said, why did you protect him?"

"B-because I knew h-he wasn't being himself…" she replied, trailing off.

Logan looked back and forth at the two girls, getting slightly annoyed at the confused state they were keeping him in. Trying to piece together what they said, he thought he figured it out. "Wait, you girls are talking about Jale, aren't you? Is that why you didn't seem eager to tell Fret? Erin, what did he do?" he asked with concern.

Marica's head snapped back up at Logan's accusation. "No…" she said sharply, "it was _not_ Jale. It was _Fret_ that got drunk and then acted like a jerk when she tried to help him."

"Oh…" replied Logan softly, looking down in embarrassment. After a few moments of awkward silence he mumbled, "I'd better go finish the dishes," and quickly disappeared into the back room.

Erin came out from behind the bar and sat down on a stool next to Marica. Sighing as she sat down, she said, "I think you just destroyed dad's image of Fret as a near perfect knight in shining armor."

Marica shook her head. "No, Erin. _Fret _destroyed your dad's mental image of Fret."

Nodding solemnly in agreement, Erin asked, "So where is your _charming_ husband anyway?"

Marica chuckled sardonically. "Where else? In bed sleeping off the alcohol. I sat up there for awhile, but couldn't get back to sleep and decided to come down here. Besides, I figure when he does wake up he's going to be hungover and whiny about it, and I'm not in the mood to offer any sympathy."

Erin reached over and put her hand on top of Marica's, giving it a gentle squeeze of reassurance. "I meant what I said about knowing he wasn't being himself. But you have to admit it's a bit funny that we both came up with the idea of locking him out of the wine cabinets."

"Yeah, but I wish… I wish he hadn't done it because of me. I didn't catch the whole conversation, but from what I did hear it was easy enough to guess that's why he drowned himself in wine."

"I really doubt it was the entire reason. Probably a culmination of things. Honestly? I think the brush with death yesterday was a bigger factor. Did he talk about it any last night after you guys left?"

Marica shook her head. "Nah, he was pretty quiet and seemed like he wanted to be left alone. I wasn't all that talkative either, so we just kinda did our own thing. He was sitting on the balcony cleaning and polishing his weapons when I went to sleep."

Erin sighed in realization after what she said a moment before. "I shouldn't have thrown it back in his face that how he handled the decision to use the Chronicle yesterday was selfish. He was probably already hurting about it, and that was just rubbing salt in the wound. No wonder he flipped out after that…"

"Hey, don't blame yourself. Regardless, what he said was uncalled for. Don't make excuses for him."

"I'm just saying that I played a part in what happened. Some of my comments fanned the flames."

"And trying to reason with a drunk wasn't the smartest thing to do," added Marica, giggling.

Erin stuck her tongue out playfully at her friend. "Touché"

"So… uhh… Erin?" Marica averted her eyes back down to her plate, her tone becoming more serious. "Th-this is hard for me to talk about… I… I get that I can be insecure when it comes to Fret, but… I'm sc-scared that I don't know to fix it and that he'll eventually give up on me for it. Which makes me more insecure…"

Erin leaned over and hugged the other girl. "Hey… I've been around you guys together and separately enough to know he loves you completely. He _does_ need you. My point this morning was that he won't admit that to himself and therefore doesn't ever express that to you in actions or words, the way you do to him."

"You don't think he'll give up and just find someone who'll go easier on him than I do?"

"Listen, it's not like you trying to keep him in line is something new. You've been doing that your whole life, right? And even before you guys were a couple he had tons of opportunities to be with other girls if he wanted. Like we've talked about before, there was a time when I'd have wanted him romantically if I felt like the interest would've been returned. Chrodechild told you the same thing. And nothing has ever happened. So at some point you have to accept that the guy only has eyes for you and trust him. The alternative is he's the sneakiest, most conniving bastard in the world, living a secret life and has everyone fooled about it." Giggling at the thought, she added, "And this is _Fret_ we're talking about here… not exactly the most devious of minds."

Marica giggled along with her friend before becoming more serious again. "Good point… I think you're right though, that I struggle because sometimes I feel like I can't live without him, but I don't really ever feel like that's true for him. Like yesterday, I mean, I know he was trying to be strong in front of everyone, but it killed me that he was so casual about sacrificing himself, like it didn't bother him. Not only because _I_ couldn't stand to lose _him_, but because it also made me think he didn't feel like he was giving up much by dying. Like I haven't given him much to live for."

Erin frowned, nodding in understanding. "I know what you mean, but I don't think that's where he's coming from. I think it goes back to that whole need to atone mindset where he's insecure in his own way. I mean, I don't think it's that he doesn't feel like he has much to live for, but rather like his life is less important than others. Like he's not worthy of living if the cost is the life of someone he cares about."

"I guess maybe that's why he takes major risks with his life like it's the most obvious no-brainer thing to do…" suggested Marica.

The girls suddenly felt hands on each of their shoulders from behind. "Plotting my painful but deserving death?"

They turned to see Fret standing behind them, smiling sheepishly. "Possibly…" replied Marica noncommittally, scanning his features to see if he gave away how much he'd just heard. She quickly realized he hadn't heard anything, and was relieved. Noticing his blood shot eyes and tired expression, she added, "You look like hell by the way."

Erin tensed perceptibly at his presence, still stinging a bit from his remarks earlier in the morning. Sensing this, he leaned forward and embraced her tightly. "I'm sorry for earlier," he said softly, his voice low enough to only be heard by the two girls. "I know you only trying to help, I can't even begin to apologize enough for the way I acted."

Erin relaxed in his embrace, and began to return the hug. She hadn't realized just how stressed out she was about what had happened until now, when she began to cry with her face pressed into his neck. "I-I think you just did," she whispered hoarsely.

"Whoa, I think someone sprung a leak. I'm getting all wet here," chuckled Fret. Erin pulled back and playfully pouted, but her pitiful expression only made both Fret and Marica laugh. Fret pulled her back into a hug. Logan came back out from the back and stopped in his tracks at the sight.

Smiling at Logan, Marica explained, "It's okay Logan, he just apologized and they're making up."

He nodded, the corners of his lips twitching upward in a smile. "Good boy…" he remarked.

"Hey, dad?" asked Fret. "Can I make a suggestion?"

"Sure, whatcha need?"

"You really should think about putting some locks on your wine cabinets to keep the riff-raff out."

Fret was left completely confused as Marica and Erin burst out in uproarious laughter, while Logan shook his head and chuckled in disbelief as he turned around and returned to the back room.


	37. All Expense Paid Trip to Hell

The rapid fire clashing of blades was a cacophony to the ears of the mages present, but a veritable symphony to the swordmasters observing. Sweat streamed off the two lone combatants, locked in a duel under the mid-day sun in which neither had been able to get the upper hand. One was a near perfect balance of technical precision, speed, and power. The other was far less powerful and slightly less precise, but held a clear advantage in speed to offset those disadvantages.

"How long have they been going at it like that?" asked Roberto, walking up and joining the crowd of spectators.

"All out like that? About 15-20 minutes I'd guess. About an hour all total," answered Chrodechild, her eyes never leaving the action. Asad nodded in agreement next to her.

Roberto whistled appreciatively at the endurance on display. "Who's winning?"

Meruvis shrugged. "Neither, really. They're too familiar with each other, they are able to anticipate what the other will do and counter practically on instinct."

"Think she can take him this time, Meruvis?" asked Liu.

"Only if she can show him something unexpected. She's faster, but that advantage is lost because he can predict her moves."

"So they'll just go on like this all day?" asked Erin.

"No," replied Chrodechild, "his physical strength will wear her down. The longer the duel lasts, the more it is to his advantage. What I cannot decide, however, is how much he is holding back."

"You mean like going easy on her?" questioned Liu. "It doesn't look like it to me. He's fighting with a lot of intensity."

Meruvis chuckled knowingly. "One does not need to back off on the intensity in order to be holding back."

"What do you mean?" asked Roberto, interested in the older man's insight.

"Think back on your training, Roberto," his mentor answered. "When there is a significant difference in experience between opponents in a sparring match, the more experienced warrior limits their repertoire in order to make the spar more equitable."

Erin frowned. "So she really isn't doing as well as it appears?"

Chrodechild shook her head. "He _is_ going all out in terms of effort. So she has nothing to be ashamed about, she is holding her own against a formidable opponent. But if the situation was not friendly he would be using greater varieties of styles to break her down. He is a brilliant tactician."

"What do you think, Jale? You know them better than anyone," remarked Meruvis.

Jale grinned slightly. "He's torn. He wants her to win, but he doesn't want her to _win_." The others looked at him questioningly.

"Don't get me wrong, he's not going to _give_ her anything. If she wins it'll be because she earned it. You know how competitive he is. He's trying to win even if he's scaled back his arsenal of moves. But at the same time, he wants her to be good enough to beat him when he's trying to win. I think it's a teacher/student pride thing, like my mom being so proud of me when I finally won a duel against her after so many years of losing." The others nodded in understanding, and a silence crept back in as the attention returned to the action.

Barely avoiding a stab after being knocked off balance, Marica scowled. Her muscles were on fire, and fatigue was causing her to get sloppy.

"What's the matter?" mocked Fret. "You seem to be getting a little frustrated."

"Stop toying with me!"

Cocking his head questioningly, he asked, "What makes you think I'm toying with you?"

"Because there's no way I should've lasted this long against you!"

Fret shook his head. "Huh… you even considered that maybe if you weren't so darn predictable _I _wouldn't have lasted this long against _you_?"

"Yeah, whatever…" she groused.

"Seriously… there have been several times when the only reason I blocked or avoided your attack was because I knew what you were going to do before you did it. You're a heck of a lot faster than me."

"Well, at this point I'm just exhausted. Can we call it quits for the day?"

Fret grinned mischievously at her. "No way, one of us is going to have to win to end this. And if I beat you I'm going to come up with something really obnoxious to make you do as my reward, so you'd better figure out a way to take me down."

Marica scowled again in frustration. She could only imagine what he'd come up with.

"Boooo!" shouted Jale mockingly. "We want action!"

"As you wish, my lord!" replied Fret sarcastically. Twirling his knives in his hands, he feigned a low slash at Marica's legs. When she moved to parry he flipped over her to land behind her, slashing back and catching her in the side while she was turning to face him. The blow didn't penetrate her armor, but served notice that he could penetrate her defenses.

Marica dropped back into a stance that afforded her better counterattacking chances at the expense of limiting her ability to initiate her own offense. Fret smiled slightly before forcing his expression back to neutral, recognizing the stance. It wasn't one he taught her, she had learned it from Chrodechild. He knew that because he'd seen the Blades of Night's Veil commander use it on multiple occasions, and had seen Roberto use it as well. Unbeknownst to them, Chrodechild smiled as well when she saw Marica take up the stance. Fret launched a flurry of stab thrusts to probe her defenses, looking for an opening while being careful to watch for a counter. What he didn't expect was Marica catching one of his knives, trapping it between her own pair of knives. With a sudden twist she wrenched the knife from his hand. Before he could get past the shock of being disarmed, he felt a searing pain between his legs after Marica stepped forward and kicked him hard in the crotch. A string of expletives escaped his lips as he forced himself to roll away into a purely defensive stance while he tried to catch his breath.

"Think that qualifies as 'showing him something unexpected', Meruvis?" asked Liu, cackling with laughter.

"I would say so," agreed Meruvis, chuckling along with the others at Fret's expense.

Fret growled, feeling slightly nauseous from the man pain. "Dammit… I guess _someone_ wasn't wanting any tonight…" he grumbled.

"Oh, suck it up you big baby!" she taunted mercilessly. "It's not like I've never racked you before!" _"I guess it's been a few years though,"_ she thought to herself.

Throwing his remaining knife aside, Fret unsheathed his two scale swords and glared at Marica. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of his menacing expression, and she felt slightly intimidated knowing that he wasn't going to be taking it easy on her anymore. She quickly drew her pair of ruby daggers, needing the extra blade length over her knives against Fret's swords. She knew the odds were stacked way against her.

He attacked aggressively, his blades crashing down on hers and driving her back. Under the relentless assault, it was all she could do to avoid being overwhelmed. She parried what she could and dodged as much as possible. In the course of trying to desperately stave off Fret's onslaught, something subconsciously clicked in her mind. It started subtly, with a heightened awareness that made her feel like her reaction time sped up. She began to get counters of her own in here and there, forcing him to expend at least some energy on defense.

Ducking a chop from his right blade, she used both of her daggers to knock his left blade in towards his body. Before he could square up his torso, she spun and executed a turn back kick to his exposed left side that caused him to stumble sideways and lose his balance. Reacting instinctively, she took advantage of the distance from him gained by the kick and unleashed a spear torrent that caught Fret completely off guard. The heavy water attack blasted him off his feet and left him lying on the ground groaning in pain.

"Fret!" she yelled in concern that she'd hurt him badly. She dropped her daggers and ran to kneel at his side while the others came over. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

Even in pain, he couldn't help but chuckle. "Ch-cheater…" he grunted painfully but grinning slightly.

Marica smirked at him. "Sore loser…"

"_Sore_ being the operative word, cheater."

"Huh, well… suddenly I can't remember where we put the _mega medicines_, imagine that…"

"You might want to give in on this one, Fret" Liu jested. The others, realizing that his injuries weren't too serious, laughed in response.

"You know, at first I was nervous about having so many people watching," began Marica. "But now I couldn't be happier to have so many witnesses!"

"Yeah, well… it's safe to say you passed your final exam," chuckled Fret, sitting up while he worked on draining the bottle of _mega medicine_ that Asad handed to hm.

Marica looked at him questioningly. "Final exam? What are you talking about?"

Fret exhaled, shaking off the lingering effects of her _spear torrent_. "I've got to go check out where the world fusion hit northwest of Pharamond. That place Diadora called _Rarohenga_ after seeing it. Both Diadora and Sophia are insisting on going with me. You know how I feel about being a meat shield for three backline fighters, so I needed to see if you were up to fighting on the front row with me. All kidding aside, you were awesome. I'd prefer you on the back row just because I selfishly want you mostly out of harm's way, but I think you're more than capable of holding your own against tough melee opponents."

Marica beamed proudly at the compliment. She knew he wouldn't say something like that if he didn't really mean it. "Well, I suppose had a pretty decent teacher and all…" she teased.

Laughing, Fret replied, "Yeah, Chrodechild did a great job with you. Switching to that counterattacking stance of hers changed the whole course of the match." He nodded at the princess, grinning.

"That's not what I meant, but yeah… thanks to both of you, really. It's hard to believe how far I've come from being pretty much a pure archer. I mean, I know I still have a lot to improve, but wow…" She shook her head, still somewhat in disbelief that she defeated Fret one-on-one, even if he hadn't used everything he knew against her.

"The talent was there, we only helped unlock it," replied Chrodechild. "You have worked hard. I agree that you are ready to face live enemies with your blades."

"So… I guess your prize for winning today's contest is an all expenses paid trip to Hell," Fret joked, using the term that Diadora said Rarohenga in her world's language translated to.

"You always do take me to the nicest places…" Marica replied sarcastically.

* * *

"Whoa! This place is wild!" exclaimed Fret, his eyes scanning the horizon in disbelief. It had been a relatively short trip to Rarohenga, courtesy of the castle gateway working again. The adventuring party had taken the gateway to Pharamond and from there traveled a little ways northwest before running into the place Dirk's redirection of the fusion targeted at Cherem Company headquarters ended up landing. Rarohenga was a twisted, scorched world that seemed to just radiate evil. All the rocky land was hued in dark reds and black, and there was no vegetation anywhere.

"See now why I gave it the name of 'Hell' in the language of my world?" asked Diadora. Everyone nodded.

Marica shook her head at the scene. "This looks like utter destruction took place. Do you think the original world looked like this?"

"Destruction is a good way of putting it," Diadora replied solemnly. "This is the One King's doing."

"Perhaps we should see about finding this world's Chronicle before Chancellor Valfred does," remarked Sophia impatiently, ready to move on. She hadn't been in a very good mood on the trip because of the nasty argument her dad had with Fret when Nova found out he wouldn't be accompanying Sophia on the mission. She was upset with her dad for making such a big deal about it in the first place, and upset at Fret for harshly reminding him who decided who went on a mission and who didn't rather than letting her handle talking to him.

Fret nodded at her. "Good point. Hey, 'Chronicle Compass', you picking up anything yet?"

Luo-Tao raised an eyebrow quizzically at the reference. "Chronicle Compass?"

"Yeah, you know, you point the way to where the Chronicles are." Fret grinned at him. Luo-Tao's expression remained as stoic as ever.

"This way," he answered dryly as he resumed walking further west. The rest of the party followed.

"I guess he didn't get it…" said Fret out loud to no one in particular.

"I'm sure he's laughing on the inside," Marica teased.

* * *

The group carefully made their way deeper into the heart of Rarohenga, walking in a formation with Fret in his customary position on the left side of the front row, with Marica to his right. Behind him was Sophia, with Luo-Tao behind Marica and Diadora on the right side of the back line. The Cherem Company party hadn't gotten very far into Rarohenga before realizing that the enemies were the toughest they'd faced yet. Even more challenging than those in Mt. Svatgol. Fret had initially felt a bit of panic well up inside him at having brought Marica into this place on her first mission as a frontline fighter, but she had done remarkably well to this point. However, she did get mad and yell at him for jumping in front of her a couple of times to take hits from an enemy that were intended for her when she was only slightly injured. She backed off quickly though when she saw the sincere hurt in his expression, realizing that he was genuinely scared for her. But Marica didn't like anyone treating her like she wasn't capable, especially him.

Thinking about it as they continued marching in silence, she had an epiphany about his over protectiveness. _"He's not doing it because he thinks I'm weak, he's expressing love! I get it! It's his way of saying I'm too important to him to risk losing!" _She started to become slightly giddy at the thoughts, giggling to herself.

"Wh-what?" asked Fret, looking over at her confused as to what she was giggling about.

"Ohhh… nothing," she replied, grinning mischievously at him in response.

Chuckling, he shook his head and returned his concentration to the horizon in front of them, vigilantly watching approaching enemies.

"Hey…" Marica said to him softly a couple of minutes later. Fret glanced over to see her still grinning.

"I love you too…" she declared, winking at him and then turning her attention back to what was coming up, leaving him even more confused. But he had little time to contemplate what she was thinking, for in the distance they could see a man standing at the top of a cliff.

* * *

"You came a long way for nothing!" the old man ridiculed loudly. "I have already obtained the Chronicle!" He held it outstretched, waving it mockingly at the group.

"Valfred!" shouted Fret.

"Fa… err, Ch-chancellor!" gasped Sophia. She had figured he would be the one to go after the Chronicle since all of his Archivists had either died or defected, but even knowing that she was still unprepared to actually see him face to face again.

"What are you doing here, you old kook?" yelled Fret.

"It should be obvious, should it not?" chuckled Valfred evilly. "It seems you have left me without any Archivists, so I had to take matters into my own hands."

"Shouldn't having your best Archivists leave the Order to join _us_ tell you that your plans are misguided?" asked Marica.

Valfred eyed the white haired girl carefully, almost as if actually pondering her question. Finally he shrugged in indifference. "It is of no consequence, the time is almost at hand."

"What are you babbling about?" asked Fret.

"This is the final Chronicle I need to complete the ritual. The time has come to summon the One King and give this world over to him, bringing forth the fruition of the One True Way!"

"No way, kook! We're going to stop you!" Fret unleashed a _flame vortex_ at Valfred that exploded all around him. But when the smoke and dust cleared, Valfred remained standing, unharmed.

"Fools!" Valfred scoffed. "I have the _True Chronicle_. It is stronger than all of your _false_ Chronicles combined!" To prove his point, he cast an area magic attack that moderately wounded each of the Cherem Company members with bolts of lightning.

Fret screamed in rage, the fury guiding his thoughts. Suddenly he began to glow in a soft blue green light. Moments later the glow faded, and Fret felt as strong as he ever had. Glaring hatefully at Valfred, he darkly growled, "Mark my words, we _will_ end you!" He raised his hand and pointed his finger at the Order chancellor, and as if pronouncing judgment on him, Fret uttered, _"Die…" _

A bluish black light swirled around Valfred. It was Marica's turn to be the one scared for her mate. She knew the deathly glow of the vortex of light represented Fret invoking his _dying wish_ mark of the stars. The same mark that had left him severely weakened the one other time he used it. The cocksure expression on Valfred's face was snuffed out as he began to scream and writhe in pain from the younger man's attack. He collapsed to his knees under the onslaught, panting heavily as the glowing light burst around him and dissipated.

"H-h-how is it p-poss-ible?" Valfred asked incredulously. "H-how c-can this be?"

"It's game over, you old kook!" shouted Fret hoarsely, himself struggling from the exertion of using his most powerful mark. "One… one more and y-you're h-history…" He raised his hand again, determined to use _dying wish_ a second time and end it right here. Marica was horrified. Fret was already bleeding out his nostrils from using it the first time and looked like he was barely standing, and now he was going to push himself even further. She desperately wanted to stop him, but was paralyzed by her fear.

The bluish black glowing light returned, swirling once again around Valfred and racking his body with pain. Fret grimaced, his body in visible distress as he pressed on. Trembling, he could feel consciousness threatening to leave him but fought to maintain control for as long as he could before blacking out. He was only vaguely aware of the screaming around him, and would only later find out that they were the screams of his friends for him to stop, drowning out Valfred's screams of agony.

"I-I c-can't…" were the last words he muttered before the world around him faded to black.

* * *

Terrible pain in his head was the first sensation Fret felt when consciousness returned sometime later. Before even opening his eyes he groaned, suffering badly from his overexertion. He felt a cool damp rag press down on his forehead, droplets of water from it trickling down the side of his head and onto his face. He shivered involuntarily in reaction to the cold clashing harshly with the feeling of burning up he felt. Slowly he opened his eyes to see Marica kneeling beside him, gently wiping his brow. The darkened skies and burnt red and black surroundings told him they were still in Rarohenga.

"Ma-Marica…" he whispered, his voice crackling. He struggled to keep his eyes open from the combination of pain and sheer exhaustion.

She leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead, then nuzzled against his overly warm cheek. "Shhh…" she whispered into his ear in return, her voice uneven. "You're burning up with a fever, just r-rest for now."

"D-did I g-get him?" he asked, not opening his eyes. Several moments went by in silence, allowing him to guess the answer. "I-I guess not, eh…"

Marica took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "You… you died before he did…" she answered softly.

"I don't feel dead? Wait, on second thought I guess I do actually," he joked weakly. "But w-weren't we out of revival statues?"

"Sophia has a _revival ray_ mark of the stars," explained Marica gently. "She brought you back. But the chancellor managed to summon a portal and escape."

"I-I just don't get why using the mark killed _me_…"

Marica sighed. "Diadora said it's called _dying wish_ for a reason. It's like a desperate last ditch effort to take your enemies out with you."

"Wh-why am I so weak? I mean, revival statues bring people back to full health, shouldn't the mark do the same?"

"She said we were lucky that it worked at all. The presence of the _True Chronicle_ greatly weakened all of our marks of the stars. I… I tried to use _healing wave_ after Sophia revived you, but it didn't do anything."

"Guess we need to get back to the castle then…"

"We will. The others are setting up camp. We'll stay here for the night and see if you're up to traveling in the morning."

"Ugh… I'm not going to hold us back… j-just give me a _mega medicine_…I can m-make it…" He grunted and groaned as he attempted to sit up.

Marica roughly pushed him back down, eliciting a sharp gasp of pain from him as his already pounding head made contact with the hard earth. "Listen to me," she said sternly, "this is _not_ up for negotiation. You _will_ do as I say, are we clear?" She knew if she wasn't forceful enough he'd keep pushing back, and she wanted to nip that in the bud.

"O-okay… I guess… I'm not in any position to argue with you anyway…" he trailed off, grimacing again as an acute pain shot through his head.

"You rest," she ordered gently but firmly. "I'll be back to check on you in a bit."

"Huh?" he asked tiredly. "Wh-why are you leaving?"

"I need to help Diadora get dinner started while Luo-Tao and Sophia finish getting the camp ready. Don't worry, I won't be gone long."

Fret smiled weakly, closing his eyes. "H-hurry back… please?" There was a hint of desperation in his voice that reminded her that he had a similar bout of separation anxiety after his near death experience in El-Qaral early in their adventures. She smiled warmly at him despite her worry about his condition.

She kissed him again on the forehead. "I will," she whispered quietly. As Marica stood, she thought, _"You really do need me, don't you?" _Before going over to join Diadora, Marica silently vowed to her husband, _"Don't worry, I'll do everything I can to always be there for you."_


	38. Who’s your Daddy?

"Alright everyone, listen up!" declared Fret, edgily pacing the stage in the castle's Grand Hall. "The old kook got to the Chronicle before we did, and rubbed our face in it. That smug bastard told us that's the last Chronicle he needs to complete the ritual, and when he uses it to bring in the 12th world the One King will descend. I think that pretty much tells you what we're up against."

King Diulf growled. "We need to attack Cynas now, before the chancellor can complete the ritual!"

"We need to make sure we're ready," replied Liu. "Once we head out, there's no turning back until it's all over."

"How much time do you think we have?" asked Chrodechild.

Sophia spoke up. "It takes the chancellor some time between obtaining a Chronicle and being able to fuse a world. He had the desert world Chronicle for quite some time, but Rarohenga only recently appeared."

"And it was awhile between the appearance of the Marsinah Plains and the desert world," added Liu.

"And between Flesaria Forest and the Marsinah Plains before that," remarked Fret. "Well, that tells us all we need to know! We've got some time before Valfred can get the 12th world, but we need to tie up all loose ends and get ready to go to Cynas. We _will_ stop him before he brings the One King here!" The crowd of Starbearers erupted in cheers.

After the room mostly dispersed, Jale came over and slapped Fret on the shoulder. "Inspirational," he said, smirking at his friend. "So, what now?"

"Fret!" exclaimed Moana, running up to them. "We have an urgent request to help the Scribes. Monsters from Rarohenga have been spotted in the Noslaw Woods heading towards their Woodland Village."

"Wh-what?" asked Liu incredulously. "Fret, we have to go help them!"

Fret scowled. "Why are you looking at me like you think you have to convince me?"

"I… sorry…"

"There's your answer, Jale. Go with Liu and Len-Lien on a mission to deal with those monsters. Up to you guys who else you take, though I'd recommend someone strong with a blade. And I know you don't want to hear this Jale, but I think you should take Eunice instead of Erin. The beasts we fought in Rarohenga liked to use magic attacks that inflicted us with various negative effects." Marica nodded in agreement.

Jale nodded in reply. "I understand. We'll take Eunice then, and maybe Meruvis or Yula."

"Sounds good, head out as soon as you can. We'll delay the siege on Cynas until you're back."

"Let me know once the traveling party is finalized, so I can keep track of it," replied Moana. "And Fret, Zenoa also requested that you come see her as soon as possible. She wouldn't say why, but it sounded important." He rolled his eyes in response. The bald witch was always playing mind games with him.

"Come on," said Marica, tugging on his arm. "I'll go with you."

* * *

"Fret! Good timing that you've come," declared Zenoa upon seeing the Cherem Company leader descending the stairs to the castle basement. Marica sighed under her breath, though she couldn't say she was surprised that the witch hadn't bothered acknowledging her.

Fret and Marica immediately noticed that Zenoa already had company. With her were Diadora, Diulf, and Ordovic. Fret frowned slightly as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "I take it I'm late to whatever you guys are discussing?"

If Zenoa noticed the annoyance in his voice, she didn't acknowledge it. "We were discussing a strategy of defeating the One King. In each of our original worlds there was a theory that the 108 stars could be united in a single attack to defeat the One King."

"Yes," agreed Diulf. "Each of us heard similar rumors in our worlds. If the same theory existed in many different worlds, it cannot simply be a coincidence."

"Yeah, my friend Atrie said he heard the same thing in his world," replied Fret noncommittally. "So what are you getting at?"

"Are you daft?" asked Zenoa, irritated in general and not just the moment with the young Tenkai Star of this world. "It may very well be the only way to defeat the One King." Gesturing to the others, she continued, "None of the worlds these are from were able to attempt it before they were defeated by the One King."

"So admittedly we do not know for sure," added Diadora.

"But I am convinced there is merit to it, since the theory is so prevalent," stated Zenoa firmly. "But _you_ need to decide whether or not to do it. You will not be able to wait and see how the battle goes, if even one Starbearer falls against the One King you won't be able to complete the unite attack, your opportunity will be lost."

Fret pondered it briefly. "I'm not going to deal with this right now," he replied.

"_You_ are the Tenkai Star!" Zenoa scolded. "It is _your_ responsibility to make the decision, not _run_ from it."

"I am _not_ going to make a decision right now about something I intend to prevent from happening in the first place!" he shouted, glaring at the ebony witch icily. "One thing at a time! We take out Valfred before he completes the ritual and stop the One King from even coming here to begin with!"

Diadora smiled warmly. "_That's_ the Fret I like."

"Yes," agreed Ordovic. "A good leader does not concede a battle before it is fought or plan to lose."

Zenoa sighed, exasperated. "Fret is such an easy one to agree with," she muttered.

* * *

Fret and Marica went back upstairs, heading towards the tavern. He was still visibly on edge, but Marica felt like she needed to talk to him anyway. "Hey," she said, "You know you've got to at least consider the possibility that if it comes down to it you might have to unite all the stars to defeat the One King."

Fret shook his head. "Why is everyone so eager to sacrifice themselves? I'm not even convinced we can't beat him straight up."

"It's not that we're eager to sacrifice ourselves, Fret. It's just that we don't know of any other world that has won against the One King, and uniting all of us might be the only way." They'd entered the crowded tavern by this time, and Fret was getting even more irritable as his eyes scanned the room for an open table.

"Think about what you're asking me to do, Marica!" he blurted out loudly in anger. "Unite all the Starbearers in a single attack against the One King? Even if we do win, where does that leave everyone? Dead!!" he shouted. All conversation in the tavern stopped as everyone stared at the arguing couple.

"I'm not _asking_ you to sacrifice all of us!" Marica shouted back defiantly. "I'm _asking_ you to stop being so damn stubborn and at least consider the possibility that it might be our only option to win!"

"I _can't_! I can't let you all do that for me, even to defeat the One King!"

"This war isn't about _you_!" she reminded him angrily. "We wouldn't be sacrificing ourselves for _you_, we would be doing it to save the entire world!"

His expression went from infuriation to sullen, and she knew her words connected. As the last of the anger drained from his flushed face, he threw up his hands in exasperation. "I need to go get some air," he said, sighing and striding back out of the tavern. Marica let him go, knowing he needed some time to think.

* * *

Fret didn't have a conscious plan for where he was going, but his feet took him outside to the courtyard with the castle's gateway portal. He was lost in thought until a voice jarred him from his walking daze.

"Fret!" the voice shouted.

"Atrie!" exclaimed Fret in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see you again. We're getting ready to go fight the main bad guy in our world, so I probably won't get to see you again for awhile."

"Yeah, same here. We're going to stamp out this old kook who's trying to complete a ritual to bring the One King here."

"Wow, we've got the exact same thing going on in our world. I wonder how many other worlds are fighting the same battle simultaneously?"

"Dunno. Wonder if the other Marica is? I haven't seen her in a long time…" He trailed off and got lost in thought again.

"Uhhh… you okay, Fret?"

"Huh? What do ya mean?"

"You seem a bit… distracted," Atrie explained.

Fret shook his head, sighing. "Sorry, getting pressured from some people here about uniting all the Starbearers in an attack against the One King. My opinion hasn't changed since you first mentioned it to me, but it's wearing me out."

Atrie nodded sympathetically. "If it helps any, I took your advice. I'm not going to think about it. If we prevent the One King from descending, it doesn't matter anyway."

"Thanks, Atrie."

"Well, I'd better go. Good luck with your bad guy too," said Atrie, smiling before turning around and strolling back towards the gateway.

Just before stepping into the gateway, Atrie had a thought and turned back around. "Fret?"

Fret had only taken a few steps. He glanced back around. "Yeah?"

"Remember that older guy I told you about, the one I used to come to visit at this castle, who wore the armor you've got on?"

"Sure…"

"He told me once that he and his wife had a son, but that there had been some kind of weird accident with a gateway portal that caused the baby to get warped to another world."

"Wh-what?!" asked Fret. "Did they ever find him?!"

Atrie shook his head. "He said they looked for him for close to 10 years before giving up. I… I suppose their son would be about my age right now, about 16."

Fret stared at the ground in front of him, speechless. Atrie didn't know what to make of Fret's reaction, so he simply wished him well again and returned to his world through the gateway.

Fret stared at the gateway, still flabbergasted. Hotupa and Diadora had witnessed the exchange, but only Hotupa had a suspicion of what it meant. He started to walk towards Fret, who quickly waved him off and spun on his heels, staggering back indoors under the weight of the revelation.

"Fret?" a female voice called out from next to him, though it sounded distant in his head as he struggled to focus. "Fret, what's wrong? Talk to me!" An older male voice joined in, trying to get his attention.

"I… I…" began Fret, mumbling something about a baby gateway in sky blue armor. He shook his head, as if the physical act would somehow clear his head of the stupor he was in.

"You're not making sense, Fret. What happened?" He latched on to the voice, recognizing it was Erin. _"Where am I?"_ he asked himself. He heard the older man's voice again. _"Logan… I must be in the tavern… why am I here? Did the gateway take me here?"_ His thoughts were a jumble. He tried to speak, his mouth moved but nothing came out, or so he thought.

He was only vaguely aware of being lifted up and carried, though it wasn't enough to yank him from his reverie. Some time later he became aware of being laid on a bed, and of several voices around him. A sharp female voice ordering everyone to leave. Another female voice demanding to stay. The first voice relenting, but only for the other female voice. A light shining in his eyes. His mouth pried open and closed. A loud clap right in front of his face that jarred his senses. A male voice laughing as Fret blinked in surprise. Dr. Zahra.

"Wh-what? What's g-going on?" asked Fret.

"You tell us," replied the doctor flatly. "Nothing appears wrong with you, but you were in quite the daze."

Marica waited impatiently, desperately wanting to talk to her husband but knowing she needed to let Zahra work. Or else Eunice might make her wait outside after all.

"Atrie. My father. Baby. 16. Accident. Gateway. Sky blue armor. Lost. Gave up," he rattled off in a rapid fire staccato, the words there but order and context were missing. No one knew what he was talking about.

"Whoa there, chief," replied Zahra with his trademark laugh. "Wanna try that again?"

"Doctor, perhaps it would be best if we let him rest for now? He doesn't seem to be in any danger, maybe a good nap will clear his head."

Zahra rubbed his chin with his hand. "Fair enough, and it's not like we don't have the bed to spare." He waved his hand and walked back over to his lab bench.

Eunice turned towards Marica. "You are welcome to stay with him, just please don't push him too much to talk right now. It appears to me that he had a kind of stress reaction that caused his mind to lapse into a trance. But he needs rest right now, not an interrogation."

Marica gulped, nodding. She lay on the bed with Fret, who had already closed his eyes. She laid her head on his chest, listening to the steady heart beat and feeling the gentle rising and falling in concert with his breathing. She knew he was falling asleep, and so she closed her own eyes and held him tight, silently asking for forgiveness for pushing him on the One King issue.

* * *

As was typical, Fret's body awoke before his brain did. By the time his mind gained traction on reality, he had already become somewhat aware of low voices in the room with him. That immediately struck him as odd, and as he blinked his eyes to gain focus, he realized that it must be dark outside because the room was dimly lit only by lantern. Rolling his head to the side towards the voices, he saw a bed next to him that Marica and Erin sat cross-legged on, facing each other. He didn't immediately recognize where he was, only that it wasn't his room. And wherever he was, he didn't know how or why he got here. The girls didn't notice him turn his head, but when he turned to prop himself up on his side they both jumped.

"Fret!" exclaimed Marica in a hoarse whisper.

"Mmm… hey guys," he replied sleepily. "Guess you'll fill me in on what's going on?"

"Uhhh… to be honest, we're kinda hoping for the same thing from you," Marica said softly.

"I'll let you guys talk," Erin said, starting to stand up to leave.

Marica grabbed her by the arm, shaking her head. "No, Erin, it's okay. Stay with us." Erin nodded, smiling. She hadn't really wanted to leave anyway, she was just doing it to be polite.

Fret glanced around the room. "So I've at least figured out I'm in the med clinic. What happened to me this time?"

"You were completely out of it, babbling about baby gateways and giving up on lost sky blue armor and such."

"And the number 16, that seemed to matter for some reason," added Erin.

The thoughts came flooding back into Fret's consciousness. His eyes went distant, and the girls knew he was gone again. "Fret?!" they both worriedly asked in unison.

As quickly as he was gone he was back again. "Huh? Oh, s-sorry… I-I'm okay. Well, not okay, but I'm okay… I think."

Marica jumped off the bed and knelt down next to him. "Hey…" she said softly. "Slow down… tell us what's wrong."

Fret took a deep breath and exhaled. "This is tough… bear with me…"

The girls nodded. Marica moved up on to the bed beside him, while Erin came over and sat on the other edge of the bed. Fret explained what Atrie had told him, choking up a couple of times during the telling.

"Wow…" breathed Marica at the end. "So Atrie just dropped that on you and left?"

"Yeah…" he sighed.

"Doesn't that seem kind of rude of him?" asked Erin.

Fret shook his head. "I'd never told him my background. I mean, he knows I can't travel to other worlds through the gateways, but I never told him that Hotupa said it meant I wasn't originally from this world. And I'd never told Atrie about being found as a baby and raised in Citro Village and no one knowing where I can from."

"This is a lot to take in," admitted Marica. "No wonder you flipped out." She ran her hand lightly over his chest. "I can't believe the sky blue armor you've been wearing all this time was your dad's."

"My birth father, anyway. I'll always consider Elder Rajim to be my _dad_. But yeah, that's freaked me out more than a little bit."

Marica smiled, appreciating him not just for saying that when he didn't have to, but for really meaning it. "Do you think you'll ever find him?" she asked, not having thought through the question to come up with the obvious conclusion.

Erin cringed at the question, already knowing the implications. Fret stared at Marica in disbelief.

"What?!" she asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Marica…" said Erin softly. "The castle ruins you found the armor in showed up in our world during a fusion."

Marica's eyes grew wide as realization set in, and she felt horrible for being so insensitive. "The Flesaria Forest fusion… I-I c-can't believe I d-didn't think of that. I'm so sorry, Fret."

"It's alright… I know you wouldn't have done that on purpose. But yeah, I guess his world fell to the One King and Valfred fused it to ours. I don't know which is worse, not knowing anything at all about my parents, or finding out their world was destroyed by the One King and I'll definitely never meet them."

Marica suddenly gasped as another thought came to her. "Fret, the vision from _Shining Legacy_! That must have been your father!"

Fret nodded solemnly. "I thought of that too. We saw the final charge to their death against the One King."

"Oh, Fret, I feel so bad for you," cried Erin.

"I think I'm coming to grips with it all, but thanks for being here for me. Sorry to have worried you guys earlier."

A sarcastic voice called out, "If circumstances were different I'd think you were the luckiest guy in the world, having two beautiful girls in bed with you and all."

Heads whipped in the direction of the voice. "Jale!" they exclaimed.

"Ha ha, buddy. What are you doing up?" asked Fret, grinning.

Jale shrugged, "Couldn't sleep, just out for a late night stroll. You look like you're doing a lot better now."

Fret nodded in unspoken understanding of what Jale was really saying, he was concerned about his friend and wanted to make sure he was okay. Fret filled him in on the story.

"Dude… that's unbelievable. I mean, I believe you… but… you know what I mean."

"Yeah… I think I'm getting through it though."

"Good deal," remarked Jale. Smirking, he added, "'cuz I'm getting tired of this angsty version of you. Hurry up and get back to being the hopeless optimist." Everyone laughed.

"Thanks, Jale," grinned Fret, winking at him. He knew his friend was just covering up his concern with humor, and he appreciated that Jale cared enough to come check on him in the middle of the night.

Jale nodded, grinning back. The friends didn't need words to communicate the deeper meaning of the exchange they just had. "Well, if you're done with my girl, I think I'll take her back if you don't mind. Besides, the one of your own should really be enough."

"Jale!" exclaimed Erin in mock indignation before joining the others in laughter. She knew he was kidding around, but she still liked seeing that little bit of possessiveness in him come out.

Fret shook his head, chuckling "I'm going to resist the urge to say something that will get me beaten up by anywhere from one to three friends."

"You'd better!" Erin retorted, having a sneaking suspicion about the nature of the comment he was referring to. She leaned forward and hugged him though and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek before also hugging Marica and standing up to leave with Jale.

"Zahra and Eunice will probably get mad at me, but I'm not hanging around here until morning," said Fret. Standing up and helping Marica to her feet, he added, "Let's go to _our_ bed."


	39. It Gets Even Better

Marica was shaken out of her slumber by the thrashing body next to her. She yelped at the abrupt awakening, rolling over to face the source of it. Despite the noise she made and her movement, it was apparent that her mate was still asleep. Sighing, she gently placed a calming hand on his bare chest and immediately frowned. On a cool night when she opted to wear a robe to bed, Fret had nothing but underwear on and was sweating. His head tossed from side to side while he mumbled anxiously. She couldn't make out what he was saying, but she knew he was having another nightmare. It was only the previous night that he'd ended up in Zahra's clinic, and he had been relatively quiet and aloof throughout the day today, even though he said he was alright. She knew he had a lot on his mind, so she gave him space.

Fret cried out suddenly in his sleep, and his body thrashed again. He sounded tortured. Marica whispered to him, trying to encourage him to wake up without startling him worse, but he continued to toss his head from side to side and mumble incoherently. She sat up and wriggled the lower half of her body under his upper body, so that he was facing away from her but reclined between her legs with his head lying back on her chest. She wrapped her arms tightly around his upper body and gently rocked him. Marica made out the words "father" and "One King" at different points and guttural mutterings of "no" sprinkled throughout the babble. Her own tears flowed from how much he was hurting and she badly wanted to be able to help him. "_Please_ wake up," she cried.

Another minute or so passed before Fret's eyes abruptly flew open and he let out an ear piercing scream of sheer terror. The unexpected reaction would've caused Marica to jump completely out of bed if she didn't have his weight holding her in place. Once the initial shock passed, she latched back on to him and kissed him repeatedly on the head and whispered words of comfort to him. As soon as he was conscious enough to realize where he was, he flipped over and roughly clasped his arms around his wife, burying his face between her breasts and sobbing. She continued to whisper soothing words, and gradually his body calmed and he stopped shuddering.

Someone banged on the door to their room. She sarcastically wondered what took so long for anyone to come investigate. "Hey guys, it's Liu," shouted the voice from the hall. "We heard screams, is everything alright in there?" She could hear him trying to door handle and finding it locked.

"M-M-Marica…" Fret stuttered hoarsely. "G-get rid of him… p-please…"

"We're okay, Liu!" Marica called out in response. "Fret had a nightmare, I've got him! He's alright now!" _"He's anything but alright,"_ she thought to herself.

"Uhhh… you sure? Can I come in for a minute?"

"No, go back to bed, sorry for waking everyone up!" she shouted back. She guessed he must have done just that, because no other questions or comments came.

"Th-th-thanks…" he whispered, hiccupping from crying so hard.

Marica gave him a few minutes for the hiccups so subside, and when he sounded calm again she quietly asked, "Tell me what it was about, please?"

Fret looked up at her, his bloodshot eyes streaked with tears. "It was _horrible_…" he whispered. He then explained to her how everything came together, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. In his nightmare he finally saw all of the visions from all of the Chronicles arranged into a coherent picture. He saw the failed attempts to defeat the One King. As the visions danced he heard words Zenoa had said in passing a long time ago echoing over and over like the tolling of a bell – "_Where there are many stars, the future holds many possibilities. Where there is but one star, only one future remains_."

Marica wasn't catching on, but she silently nodded for him to continue. He explained that he finally understood the visions from the Chronicles, near the end of the dream he saw himself standing in front of the Tablet of Promise, where instead of the 108 stars there was only a single star listed – the Tenkai Star. He saw _his_ name alone on the Tablet of Promise, and when he finally noticed his reflection in the highly polished tablet, realized he was staring at the One King. It all made perfect sense, uniting the 108 stars didn't defeat the One King, it reduced the world from many possible futures to a single future. The Tenkai Star left became the One King! _One World, One Future, One Star, One King_.

Marica gasped. "You're sure of that?!"

"I've never been surer of something in my life," he said gravely.

"Safe to say we won't be using _that_ approach," she murmured, still astounded by the revelation.

"M-Marica…" he whispered, beginning to choke up again. "It… it g-gets worse."

She gently stroked his cheek and ran her fingers through his hair. "Take your time…" she replied softly.

After recomposing himself, he shook his head. "_Sh-Shining Legacy_… the vision…"

Marica thought back on the vision, it had been a long time since she'd seen it and the details were fuzzy. She specifically remembered it being the Chronicle where they saw the man that turned out to be Fret's birth father though. "I…I can't remember all the details…" she admitted quietly.

Fret nodded solemnly. "I finally understand it. Marica, the vision in _Shining Legacy_ was… was…" He paused, his lips trembling. "It w-was him uniting all the stars to a-attack the One King. Th-the vision was the final charge where they unleashed it."

Marica's eyes grew wide in alarm, she knew the 'him' Fret referred to was his birth father. "Fret…"

"I _saw _it, Marica… h-he… m-my father… he was the Tenkai Star… I-I saw the final charge… th-then saw him t-turn into… in-into…" He began sobbing again in distress. Marica didn't need for him to finish to know what he was going to say. In his nightmare, Fret saw a vision of his father transforming into the One King. She was stunned, and could only imagine how traumatized he was.

"Your _father_ is the _One King_?!" she asked in astonishment. "That _can't_ be true!"

"I w-wish… but I s-saw it… I know…" He began to weep again.

Marica held him even tighter as she rocked him, her own tears falling along with his. She stayed up all night with him, doing everything she could to hold him together. She decided that they were going to meet with Jale and Liu in the morning and talk through this. As much as she loathed admitting it, Fret needed a support group larger than just her to deal with this, and she needed help from their friends in figuring out how this new knowledge affected their strategy.

* * *

The rapping of knuckles on the door came bright and early in the morning. And Marica was quite annoyed by it. She had managed to coax Fret into a light sleep about an hour ago, and lying on top of him with her head on his chest and feeling his steady breathing, she'd finally allowed herself to doze off. The sound at the door immediately roused her from her brief nap, and she felt Fret stir underneath her.

"Hey, guys?" called a voice from outside the door.

"_Liu…"_ sighed Marica to herself. Whispering to Fret that she'd deal with it, she slid off him and grabbed her discarded robe off the floor, putting it back on as she walked into the front room and unlocked the door.

"What happened?" asked Jale tersely, rubbing his own tired face. Marica blinked in surprise at seeing both Liu and Jale at the door, though with her energy level at the moment, eye movement was the only visible reaction she gave.

Nodding towards Jale, she asked, "So you heard it too? All the way at the other end of the hall and a floor down from us?"

Jale shook his head. "Nah, Liu came and got me this morning. Said Fret was screaming hysterically late last night, but when he came to see what was up you ran him off without answering the door."

She looked at Liu and remarked, "So you brought muscle with you this time, eh?" A very slight smirk tugged at the corners of her lips. Glancing back at Jale, her expression softened and she sighed wearily. "Come on in, guys. We've got a lot to talk about…"

* * *

The three friends passed through the front room and into the bedroom. They found Fret sitting on the edge of the bed in a pair of black cotton pants, leaned over with his head resting in one hand and seemingly staring at the red and white shirt he held in the other hand.

"It goes over your head, dude," Jale grinned snarkily.

"What?" asked Fret drowsily, not looking up.

"The shirt, dude. Looks like you're trying to figure out what to do with it, so I thought I'd help you out. Especially since I'm not nearly as impressed with you shirtless as Marica is." Liu chuckled briefly, but was concerned about his friend.

When Fret finally looked up, Liu and Jale both did a double-take at how awful he looked. "Sorry…" he muttered listlessly, sitting up and drawing the shirt over his head.

Liu took a deep breath. "Talk to us, man. What happened? You look like death warmed over."

Fret nodded gravely. "If it makes you feel better, I feel even worse…"

* * *

Jale and Liu sat in stunned silence after Fret repeated his description of the visions he saw in his nightmare and their meaning. Both repeatedly shook their heads in disbelief. He got through it this time without breaking down like he did with Marica, but as he was finishing he stood up and walked a few feet away from the others. He turned his back and put his hands on top of his head, sighing audibly as he stared vacantly out the window.

"Well…" Liu began, "We at least know that using all of the Starbearers in a unite attack isn't a viable plan. But it's like you've been saying all along. If we stop Chancellor Valfred before he can summon the One King, it doesn't matter who the One King is, right?"

Fret sighed again. "Easy for you to say, the One King isn't _your_ father…"

"No, he isn't," agreed Liu, treading lightly with his emotionally fragile friend. "But does it really change anything?"

"I… don't know," Fret admitted wearily. "I'm just… tired." He continued to gaze out the window.

Jale, Marica, and Liu all exchanged glances, not really sure how to proceed. Marica frowned, then pointed to Jale and made a motion of cracking a whip. Jale looked incredulous, shaking his head vehemently as he pointed back at Marica and made the same whip cracking motion.

Marica glared sternly at Jale, the type of look that told Jale he'd already lost and it was just a matter of how long it was going to take for him to give in and do it her way. He raised his arms up, silently asking, _"Why me?!"_ Marica pointed to herself and then wrapped her arms around herself in a hugging motion.

Liu averted his eyes down towards the floor. He didn't think they should be manipulating Fret like this, not under these circumstances. But he knew he'd get out voted even if they weren't planning it literally behind Fret's back.

Jale's shoulders slumped in resignation. He grimaced in frustration. It was times like this when he kind of resented Liu, who never had to be the one to get in a friend's face. He momentarily glared at Liu, then back at Marica, then nodded in defeat. He took a deep breath and stood up as he began to speak.

"Well, Fret, we're all tired. None of us _want_ to be doing this. I told you the other night, I'm tired of this angsty crap from you. It's time to get your act back together."

Fret whirled back around. "It's not that simple, Jale!"

"Why, because you found out something bad about a father you never knew?"

"'_Something bad_'?! Finding out your father is a drunk that cheats on your mom is _bad_. Finding out your father steals to fund a drug habit is _bad_. Finding out your father is the _fucking_ One King who destroys entire worlds? 'Bad' just doesn't describe it."

"Fret…" said Marica softly. "I know it hurts, but you're getting too far ahead of yourself by worrying about this. One thing at a time, remember?"

"Come on, man," said Jale, "You know this doesn't change _anything_. We still have a job to do, a world to save. We've come this far, and you're damn well not packing it in at this point. I'll drag your ass kicking and screaming all the way to Cynas and dump you off on Valfred's doorstep if I have to." He smirked at his friend.

Marica nodded. "He's right, Fret, you know?" She walked over and leaned into her husband, placing her hands on his chest and showing him a gentle smile. "Our mission is no different now than it was a couple of days ago before you talked to Atrie."

"So are you ready to suck it up and carry on?" asked Jale.

Fret glanced back and forth at Marica and Jale a couple of times, and despite his mood and fatigue a grin began to form at the edges of his lips. "So, Liu, tell me… these two really didn't just setup a good cop/bad cop routine on me while I had my back turned, did they?"

Marica tilted her head down, pressing her face into his shirt to hide her guilty expression. Jale turned and faced Liu, who was sitting behind where he was standing. Liu's eyes shifted nervously, and even without saying anything his expression gave him away. "Uhhh… I-I didn't see anything…"

"Ugh! Even I can tell you're lying, Liu!" Marica griped, giving up the charade.

Jale chuckled, not able to help himself. "Well, dude, that's the best we had on such short notice. How'd we do?"

Fret couldn't help but laugh. "You had me for awhile, so I've got to give you credit for that."

"So are you ready to snap out of these doldrums?" Marica asked with a sincere look of concern.

"Alright, alright, you guys win… You're right… I can't do anything about it, so moping around worrying about it is pointless. Let's just focus on dealing with Valfred."

Jale nodded. "We're leaving out today for the Scribe Village. Marica, your job is to keep Fret occupied while we're gone so he's not sitting around dwelling on this stuff, cool?"

She smiled. "I think I can handle that."

"Hey, Liu, before you go I want you to get a quick meeting together with the leaders of the various factions here," said Fret. "I at least need to tell them what I found out so no one will be stressing out about getting sacrificed in a massive unite attack."

Liu nodded thoughtfully. "Sure… but let's keep the bit about the One King being your father and all under wraps."

"Why's that?"

"It… it's just an… unnecessary detail," explained Liu, choosing his words carefully. "One I could see having the potential to be more harmful for people to know than good."

"You think people will hold that against me?"

"Not the Starbearers. Well… at least not most of them. But I think it could be bad if it got out and became public knowledge. Bad for you personally, and for Cherem Company as a whole."

"I hate to say it, but I agree," said Jale. "Even though your friends know you'll do what has to be done, people who don't know you might have doubts about which side you'll be on at the end if it means standing against your father."

Marica bit her bottom lip and tugged on a bang of hair as she considered it. "Yeah…" she agreed, "We should keep that info to just us and not tell anyone else. I mean, to make sure it doesn't end up being gossiped about. You have to admit, that's some pretty juicy gossip."

Fret sighed. "I don't like it, but you know I trust you guys. We'll do it that way, with one exception – Jale, you need to tell Erin." He explained his reasoning, "It puts Jale in a very awkward situation having to keep that secret from her, and I don't like the idea of having to be careful about what we say around her. And I trust her as much as I trust you guys. Liu, I think you should tell Len-Lien as well."

While Jale nodded in the affirmative, Liu shook his head in disagreement. "Nah, I don't need to tell her. We don't really talk about personal stuff like this that involves other people. Scribes in general aren't much for gossip."

Shrugging, Fret said, "well, that's your call I guess. Anyway, I still want to have the meeting with the leaders and at least tell them the part about the unite attack being a definite no go."

"No problem, I'll get it together right after breakfast since we're planning to leave mid-morning."

"Good deal," said Fret, grinning, "The earlier the better, afterwards I'm going back to bed and sleeping until tomorrow."

* * *

**AN: To be honest, I don't know if this idea about the hero's father being the One King was what the developers intended or not. Obviously it's not anything said outright in the game. However, here's my rationale based on clues actually given in the game:**

**1. The stuff Atrie says to the hero in the previous chapter about the man in the sky blue armor who lived at the castle having a baby that was lost in a gateway accident is taken straight from the game. Atrie tells the hero that the baby would be about his age, and Atrie and the hero are basically the same age. Combined with what the game tells us about the hero's background, it's pretty obvious that Atrie is telling the hero who his father was.**

**2. When Jale, Marica, and the hero find the sky blue armor in a chest after the castle has replaced the forest ruins, they comment that the hero looks a lot like the guy they saw in the vision from the Chronicle (Shining Legacy) they found in the forest ruins.**

**3. The Shining Legacy vision itself consists of characters that look like slight variations of the hero, Marica, Jale, and Liu fighting the One King, and after they verbally spar with the One King, the hero announces they're unleashing the power of all of the stars in an attack right before he makes his charge.**

**4. In the alternate Cynas towards the end of the game where you're in the preview of the predetermined future, you come across another Tablet of Promise. If you look at it, there's only a single star listed on the tablet.**

**5. The game allows you to choose to sacrifice all the Starbearers in a unite attack against the One King. If you do though, you get the bad ending where the One King is defeated and the hero transforms into the next One King.**

**So... from the above I think it's reasonably safe to say that Atrie's older friend who he used to come to visit at the castle was the hero's long lost father, and is the same person in the vision from Shining Legacy. And since Shining Legacy indicates they did the unite attack, it's reasonable to assume that he became the One King. What isn't clear is if he is the _current_ One King, but it makes for good story angst to go with that :-)**

**We're getting closer to the end of this thing! I'm thinking about 3-4 more chapters to get to the end of the game. However, awhile back I had an interesting idea (well, I think it's interesting anyway) for a post-game/epilogue thing that takes place after the events of the game. While I was inspired I went ahead and banged that out, so that's another 12K words sitting in the bank ready to be posted right after I finish the last chapter for the actual game's story. **


	40. Before the Big Battle

"Alright, guys, listen up!" Fret stood facing the crowd in the Grand Hall with an expression of determination on his face, his arms folded across his chest. "This is the part where I'm supposed to say I'm not one for fancy speeches, then go ahead and give a big fancy speech anyway." He grinned, and the others in the room laughed to varying degrees.

"We're leaving for Cynas in the morning. We have one objective – stop Valfred from fusing the 12th world and completing the ritual to summon the One King. We'll be on his home turf, and I'm sure he'll be expecting us. So that means it's going to be our toughest challenge yet. But you know what? That doesn't worry me. Time and time again that old kook has thrown his best at us, and we always come through when we have to. _This_ time he won't be able to run away with his tail between his legs! We're ending it once and for all!" The crowd erupted in cheers.

"Diadora?" asked Liu, "What should we expect to find when we invade the Tower of the Way?"

The former Order Archivist looked thoughtful. "To reach Valfred at the top of the tower, we will need to ride three different elevating platforms, or _lifts,_ as you call them here. Since the chancellor will be expecting us, he will likely have disabled them. Each elevating platform has an activation switch, so we will need to secure those switches in order to make sure the lifts are operational."

Liu nodded. "Okay, so in addition to having all of the Starbearers that fight there for general engagements with the Order's army, we'll need three strike teams to deal with the activation switches, and a team to concentrate specifically on reaching the chancellor while the others keep his forces occupied. I'd like Chrodechild, Asad, and Diulf to lead the three strike teams. And Vaslof and Neira to co-lead the larger general fighting force. And Fret, you'll have the team that goes after Valfred. It's up to each leader to fill out their team with who they want."

"My team is easy," Fret smirked. "I'm going with the ones that got me into this whole mess in the first place – Jale, Marica, Liu, and Erin." Everyone laughed.

Chrodechild spoke up next. "I shall take Fredegund, Meruvis, Manaril, and Eunice."

Asad ran his hand through his red mane while briefly considering who to take. "I will have Roberto, Resno, Diadora, and Gorno."

Diulf stepped up to the stage. "Megion, my old friend and rival, I would be honored to have you fight at my side. Servillah, my love, I cannot imagine going into the most important battle of our lives without you. Minen, your firepower and spirit will be most welcome. And Semias, you old gambler, your skills will help us get the jump on our enemies."

"It's all settled then," said Fret. "Everyone, this is it. Do whatever you need to this afternoon and tonight to get your minds and bodies ready. Just be ready to roll in the morning."

* * *

"To another rousing speech," Jale mocked as he raised his glass of water to the approaching Fret in jest. He and Erin were sitting at a table in the tavern, eating lunch a short time after the battle plans were made, and now Fret and Marica were sitting down to join them.

"Yes," agreed Asad from the next table over, where he was sitting with Chrodechild, Fredegund, and Meruvis. "For someone who claims they do not like to make speeches, Fret sure seems to love his speeches."

Fret feigned indignation while the others laughed at his expense. "You all officially suck." He stuck out his tongue playfully while his friends continued to laugh. After the laughter died down, the normal banter of friendly conversation picked up.

Later in the meal, Jale asked Fret, "So what do you guys have going on this evening? Wanna hang out with us and do something?"

Fret started to nod, but before he could answer, Marica beat him to it. "Nuh uh, no way," she said to Jale and Erin, grinning. "He is _mine_ and mine _alone_ tonight. With a big 'Do Not Disturb' sign hung on the door to our room if you don't get the hint."

Fret grinned, though he was slightly embarrassed by his wife's brazenness. "So… uhhh… yeah… I'm kinda… busy tonight."

Jale shook his head. "Really? Did you _really_ need to supply that much info?"

Marica laughed. "Maybe, since apparently the thought of spending an intimate evening alone with _your_ girl the night before leaving for the most important battle of our lives never crossed your mind." Jale and Erin both blushed. Unbeknownst to Marica, her comment had also caught the ears of Chrodechild, who was sitting directly behind her.

Jale scoffed. "Yeah, well…" he trailed off, glancing down at the table. He didn't really having a comeback that didn't involve admitting he and Erin hadn't done more than kiss. And that wasn't something he was going to talk about with anyone.

Recognizing that she was making them uncomfortable, Marica backed off the teasing and changed the subject. After awhile the friends finished up and went their separate ways for the afternoon.

* * *

Jale and Erin walked hand-in-hand outside on the castle grounds, talking and enjoying the mild and slightly overcast day. They were making small talk, but both of them were thinking about a topic neither really knew how to bring up.

"Jale?" asked Erin, "You seem kind of distracted. Is something bothering you?"

"Bothering me? Nah, sorry… was just thinking."

"About tomorrow? Or something else?"

Jale blushed slightly, not really wanting to answer directly but also not wanting to lie. "Nah, not so much about tomorrow. It'll take 5-6 days to get to Cynas anyway, depending on whether or not we stop at Grayridge to rest."

She noticed the blush, and had a strong suspicion that he was thinking about the same thing she was. "About what Marica said?" she asked softly.

He didn't answer right away, but just kept looking at the ground as they walked. When he didn't answer, she knew she was right. She stopped walking, and tugging his hand she caused him to turn to face her. "I'm thinking about it too," she admitted quietly.

Jale exhaled. "I… I don't want to rush things, but… I guess part of me thinks there's also a chance one or both of us won't make it back from Cynas." He looked away as he continued to speak. "I-I question myself though, am I just trying to rationalize not waiting until we're married? And I worry you'd feel like I pressured you into it before you were ready."

Erin nodded. "I can understand that…" she replied, leaning in and embracing him. "We don't have to decide now, but… can I stay with you tonight? I mean, whether anything happens or not?"

"Of course you can, I'd like that."

She stood up on tip toes and kissed him on the cheek before speaking softly near his ear, "You wouldn't be pressuring me," she reassured, "I _want_ to be with you. Don't think of it as some one-way street where it's only me giving something up for you. It's just as much you giving something up for me, okay?"

Jale nodded, smiling gently. "I love you, Erin. I don't _need_ to be with you physically to show you that, or to know that you love me too. But I admit… I damn sure _want_ to."

Erin giggled lightly. With a gleam in her eye, she said, "Sounds like we've made up our minds about tonight then." She added to herself, _"I'd better go talk to Eunice about preventatives…"_

* * *

Asad sighed, realizing that he'd once again read an entire page of his book but had no idea what he'd just read. He sat in a chair in his room, reading by the lantern hanging from the wall above and behind him, trying to calm his mind enough to sleep. But that wasn't happening, for the same reason he was unable to keep his mind engaged on the text. He didn't get too far along before his thoughts strayed back to Chrodechild.

He'd been looking forward to spending the evening with her, but she had acted strangely at dinner and then vaguely told him she had some things she needed to do. When he asked if it was anything he could help with, she immediately brushed him off. Asad didn't know what to make of her reaction, but he was quite disappointed and was having a hard time not dwelling on it. Truthfully, even though they'd been a couple for awhile now, with everything being so busy and Chrodechild having so many other demands on her time, he hadn't been able to spend enough time alone with her to feel truly confident about his place in her life. And it made him somewhat depressed, because he knew that's why he was sitting alone in his room on the eve of departing for Cynas, because he hadn't had the confidence to be assertive about the two of them spending it together. He was mentally chiding himself again, he realized. Staring down at the page of his book one more time, he sighed and shook his head before closing the book and setting it off to the side. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, losing himself in thought again until he heard a knock at the door.

"It is open!" he called out, neither bothering to get up nor to open his eyes right away. He figured it was one of his friends, most likely Hafin or Nakil, stopping by to chat. He heard the door open and then close a moment later. "Good evening," he offered, though his heart really wasn't in it.

"You do not sound very convinced about that," a voice answered with just a hint of playfulness.

Asad's eyes snapped open. "Chrodechild!" he exclaimed before doing a double-take at her appearance. "W-w-wow…"

She flashed a lighthearted smile. "I trust that you approve?"

"Y-you look like, well… a princess. So beautiful and elegant..."

Chrodechild had foregone her usual attire of a Blades of Night's Veil uniform for a form fitting without being tight calf-length silk violet dress, with an off the shoulder neckline that dipped in a slight 'V' across her chest. A matching silk scarf wrapped around her neck accentuated the look. In place of her customary dark blue and yellow headband was a moonlight stone encrusted platinum circlet. Her usual wash-and-go moppy blonde hair was brushed out and adorned with small butterfly hairclips on either side, pinning her bangs up off of her face. The entire ensemble was classy and refined, sexy without being tawdry.

She smirked slightly at Asad's shocked expression, a reaction not born out of arrogance but rather simple self confidence. Just because Chrodechild preferred the convenience of a lower maintenance look didn't mean she didn't feel equally comfortable appearing feminine and regal. "Yes, well, I had forgotten just how long it takes to dress the part," she admitted. "This might be the only thing I am _not_ looking forward to about assuming the throne of Astrasia." She chuckled lightly.

Asad chuckled with her. "Was there an event you had to attend this evening?" He didn't know of anything going on that would require her to dress up. The only remotely formal event that had been held at the castle was Fret and Marica's wedding, and even that was fairly casual outside of the wedding party.

"Not at all," she answered with a coy smile, intentionally not offering additional explanation.

"I… mmm… you have me at a disadvantage."

"And?"

He cocked his head to the side, staring at her questioningly. Despite his calm appearance, his mind was racing through the possibilities. "Sorry… I cannot think of why you would be dressed up."

She stepped forward gracefully, continuing to close the gap between them with each comment. "You think too much," she said, smirking.

"Oh? Do I?"

"And you ask too many questions…" she added breathily. She was leaning over close enough to him now that he could feel her breath of his face. Before he could say anything else she pressed her lips to his. The kiss was firm but tender, persistent but loving. After a minute she pulled back, and whispered, "Do you get it yet?"

Asad shook his head, laughing softly. "I think I need some more mmm… _explanation_." He winked at Chrodechild playfully.

"Oh? Do you now?" she whispered back.

Asad chuckled. He did get the hint. He understood that she had specifically taken the time to get dressed up for _him_, and he knew now that his previous consternation that she didn't want to spend this last evening with him was unfounded.

* * *

Days had gone by, and now the vast majority of Cherem Company was standing on the outskirts of Cynas. After five days it no longer felt weird to Fret to be traveling with such a large force, though it had certainly started out that way. Fortunately, most of the people he'd talked to that first day while marching seemed relaxed and in excellent spirit. He'd commented to Marica before going to sleep that night that he was surprised there wasn't a lot of tension in the ranks, but she just smirked at him like she knew something he didn't. He wouldn't be surprised if she did though, she'd been talking to Erin a lot of the day and if there was anyone other than Moana that had their finger on the pulse of Cherem Company, it was Erin.

The journey to Cynas had been very uneventful. With as large and powerful of a fighting force they had, wandering monsters created barely any delays at all. On Logan's recommendation, they opted not to stop over in Grayridge. At first Fret was confused as to why Logan would suggest they bypass Grayridge, until Logan reminded him that it hadn't been very long since the Order had occupied the town and even though Cherem Company had helped liberate them, it was still likely to freak the townies out and potentially be a stressful situation with that large of a force passing through. And it wasn't like Grayridge had the means to instantly accommodate that many travelers. Logan's inn was the largest in town by far, but even it only had about 20 rooms. So the large group kept to the main road and continued past Grayridge before eventually stopping to rest at the still abandoned Fort Arc, and then continuing on to Cynas from there. While they were there, Fret recommended to Chrodechild that she annex Fort Arc after taking over rule of Astrasia. It was close enough to Pharamond to be manageable while also being a good strategic outpost to hold. She thought it sounded like a great idea, and thanked him for suggesting it.

Standing outside of Cynas now, Fret joked, "I know I'm a backwater hick, but I've never stopped being amazed by how big Cynas is. And that Tower of the Way is just insane!" He shook his head, slightly in awe as he gazed up the steep incline of the road leading up to the majestic city.

"Well, just remember we aren't here as tourists," Marica reminded him with a smirk.

Jale chuckled. "I don't doubt that will be obvious once we get up the hill."

Liu called out. "Everyone, to positions! Vaslof, lead the first team in! Strike teams will follow behind while they clear a path to the tower! Fret, your team will trail the strike teams into the Tower! Neira, your team has our rear and flanks!"

"Let's do this!" shouted Fret enthusiastically.

* * *

"Okay, so this is weird…" remarked Fret, frowning. His team was making its way down a back alley towards the Tower of the Way, and despite Vaslof leading an advance sweep, Fret was still surprised at the complete lack of Order of the One True Way military presence. Other than a handful of civilians on the street, it was eerily quiet.

Anticipating what his friend was referring to, Liu asked, "Think they're all holed up at the Tower of the Way?"

"I dunno, maybe-"

"Heretics!" called out a voice, interrupting them.

"Huh?" asked Fret, turning towards the source. It was a young man, a civilian.

"How dare you come here and try to deny us the fruition of the One True Way!" an old woman accused in a scathing tone.

Marica quickly noticed that the people on the street were gathering towards them, forming an impromptu mob. She knew their group didn't want to engage civilians, and she was already calculating possible escape avenues to avoid bloodshed.

"We've got no beef with you people," replied Fret. "Let us by."

"We have been waiting for the descent of the One King for too long to allow you to mess it up now! We will not let you stop Lord Chancellor Valfred from bringing in the One True Way!" yelled another man.

"What's the plan, Fret?" asked Liu. "They're obviously not going to just let us pass."

Fret growled in frustration. "We're _not_ fighting civilians. Jale! You and me are going to form a wedge up front. Marica, Liu, Erin! Stay close to us! We're just going to plow our way through!"

While the Cherem Company team was getting into position, a young boy spoke up. "The servants of the One King will protect us!" he exclaimed. Suddenly the crowd began murmuring, and moments later began to disperse to the sides.

"Servants?" Liu wondered out loud to no one in particular. "What's _that_ about?" He didn't have to wonder for long, because just as quickly two Akephaloi appeared.

"_Those_ things?" exclaimed Fret. "They think _those_ are servants of the One King? Those are from Rarohenga!"

"No area marks," said Jale dryly, "We don't want to risk hitting bystanders."

The Akephaloi were giant headless beasts that didn't really have legs as much as a base that tapered down to a point. They didn't walk, but hovered approximately a meter off the ground, which only made their natural 5-6 meter height that much more intimidating. However, Fret and Marica had fought and defeated many Akephaloi in Rarohenga and Jale and Liu had taken some out in the Noslaw Woods while helping the Scribes, so the intimidation factor was gone. The team made short work of the pair of enemies.

"Nooo!" screamed a little boy. "The heretics killed the servants!"

"Get them!" yelled another man, oblivious to the fact that a mob of unarmed and untrained civilians stood no chance in a fight against the quartet that just blew away a pair of Akephaloi.

"Run for it while we've got an opening!" shouted Fret, already beginning to sprint towards the rapidly closing gap in the crowd ahead. His team followed quickly behind and they burst through before the crowd could close around them. After turning a few corners and continuing to run, they slowed to a brief stop once they were sure they were longer being followed.

"The Tower of the Way is dead ahead!" pointed out Liu.

"You mean that building in front of us that's so tall it blocks out the sun? You think that's the one?" asked Marica sarcastically.

"Come on, cut me some slack…" groaned Liu with a slight grin. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the others chuckled.

"Hey, guys?" asked Marica. The others turned towards her.

"Not to get too sentimental while we've still got a job to do, but… can you believe how far we've come? I mean, I know it's been a year and a half, but it just doesn't seem that long ago that the four of us were patrolling Eastern Hill together."

Jale grinned. "Gotta say, in hindsight it seems rather funny how worried everyone was about us going out to face some wild laggarts."

"No kidding!" agreed Fret. "The beasts we're fighting these days make fighting a laggart feel like stepping on a bug."

"Well, _I'm_ sure glad you guys did!" remarked Erin, drawing laughter from the others. She didn't need to elaborate for her friends to know what she meant, that she'd never have met them otherwise.

Liu glanced around. "Everyone caught their breath? If so, we'd better get across the square to the Tower of the Way and inside before we draw anymore unwanted attention out here."

Everyone nodded. "Okay, guys," said Fret, "Next stop is the penthouse suite and a showdown with the old kook. Let's go…" The group broke into a light jog towards the tower. Just before reaching the steps, however, and old acquaintance appeared.

"Windbag!" exclaimed Fret in shock.

Erin growled. "_Macoute…_"


	41. A Future without a Future

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" Fret glared at Macoute incredulously.

"Ahh… he he he he ….he he… he…"

"Something doesn't seem right with him," offered Jale.

"What are you talking about? He's always like that."

Liu shook his head. "Nah, Fret. He's even… weirder than usual, like something is wrong with him."

"He he he he he he … O-one W-w-world… One F-f-f-few-fewture… arrrrrrrrggggggghhhhh!" Macoute screamed, his body wracked with pain as he began to transform into a beast.

"Windbag!" shouted Fret.

"What are those on his back," asked Marica, "angel wings?"

No one had time to speculate on an answer before Angel Macoute launched a magic attack on the party, knocking everyone back. As the group settled back into formation, Fret barked out orders on how to handle the battle. They quickly discovered that the Angel Macoute beast had a high defense and was going to be tough to take down, but at the same time its physical attacks were slow and fairly weak. For the experienced quartet of adventurers, it made for a relatively safe, if not tedious fight.

Fret grunted in frustration. They'd been pounding on Angel Macoute for awhile now, and he was aware that they were wasting precious time. Macoute appeared to be weakened, but they hadn't been able to deliver the decisive blow. Suddenly a thought came to mind.

"Citro Defense Corps!" shouted Fret, "unite attack!"

Leaping forward simultaneously were Fret and Jale, converging on their target just as an arrow from Marica's bow and a ranged attack from Liu's staff slammed into Angel Macoute. Jale unleashed a flurry of punches from the right side while Fret slashed and chopped from the left. The beast groaned and finally dropped after Jale finished his combination with a tornado kick.

Shaking his head in disgust, Fret spat on the ground and said, "See, now that's just screwed up."

"What do you mean?" asked Liu.

"He must have had the mark of the Chronicle from Rarohenga embedded in him," Marica noted.

"Yeah, the Chronicle of _Resonant Horror_," agreed Fret. "My point though is that he didn't look like he wanted it or asked for it. Like that old kook ruined him like that just to buy more time to finish his ritual."

Erin nodded sadly. "I don't think Valfred cares anymore who he has to sacrifice to get what he wants."

"So first he says he's trying to save as many people as possible, and now they're all just disposable to him?" The more he thought about it, the angrier Fret got.

"Sounds about right," said Liu. "Let's get going then, we've wasted enough time out here."

As the group climbed the steps to the Tower of the Way, Jale leaned over and muttered something to Erin that caused her to giggle slightly. The others paused, looking over at her questioningly.

"S-sorry… it's nothing." But she couldn't help herself and began to giggle again.

Marica poked her in the arm, grinning. "Nothing, eh?" Erin looked over at Jale, who appeared to briefly contemplate something before shrugging and nodding.

Erin grinned back. "Well, all things considered it's pretty inappropriate to joke about right now, but remember how I told you awhile back when Jale gave that lame proposal?" Marica nodded.

Jale blushed slightly. "Wait, you _told_ her?"

"Wait!" exclaimed Fret. "Jale proposed to Erin? When did that happen? How come you knew about it and I didn't?" His attention deficit kicked in full force, and previous thoughts about Valfred went out the window as he was now sidetracked by the current revelation.

Erin and Marica both waved their hands dismissively at the boys, then laughed at having the same reaction. Erin replied first, "of course I told her, she's my best friend!"

Marica nodded again. "And we _don't_ pass on everything we talk about." She winked at Fret and Jale. "We girls do keep our secrets, you know?"

Fret flashed Jale a mock accusatory glare. "So, what's _your_ excuse then, man?"

Jale shook his head in disbelief. "Well, I hadn't like… formally proposed or whatever. I mean, I hadn't gotten around to making her think I was cheating on her with Marica or anything," he added sarcastically, drawing laughter from the girls and Liu and a playful scowl from Fret.

"Anyway," continued Jale, "we haven't made formal plans yet, but yeah, we're getting married after this is all over." The way he waved his hand indicated he meant the whole war.

"You still coulda told me…" grumbled Fret, holding the door while everyone entered the tower.

"Dude, don't get your panties in a bunch about it, alright? First things first, let's get to Valfred."

"So…" began Liu as they passed through the foyer of the tower towards the first set of stairs, "was there a joke in there somewhere?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Erin, giggling again. "Yeah, Jale knows I'm kidding around by calling it a lame proposal. But awhile back we were talking about Grayridge and the Order, and in response to something I said about Macoute, Jale jokingly said that he'd have to remember not to send a wedding invitation to him. Anyway, back there after the fight, he said he guessed he wouldn't have to remember not to send it anymore. Sorry, I found it funnier than I probably should've under the circumstances."

"Wow, Erin," winked Fret. "Dark humor, eh? I didn't know you had that side to you."

She winked back at him. "I'm not _all_ hugs and comfort, you know, despite what Jale claims."

"Marica's been a bad influence on you, I see," Fret suggested with mock sympathy, laughing along with the others as they continued to make their way up into the tower.

* * *

The climb to the top of the Tower of the Way was deceptively easy. Fret's group didn't know that each of the three strike teams had succeeded in securing a lift activation switch, they only knew that each time they arrived at a lift they were able to use it to go up to the next section of the tower. The random Order soldiers and Rarohenga beasts scattered around the tower were easily dispatched along the way. The only moderate challenge was when they ran into their old 'friend' Beardsley, who like Macoute transformed into an angel beast. When Fret delivered the deathblow, he contemptuously muttered to the dying Angel Beardsley that "this one is for Fredegund." He hadn't forgotten how much grief the Order general had caused for his Astrasian friends.

After dealing with Beardsley, the group finally reached the apex of the tower. Fret had been there the one time previously with Diadora, and knew they were outside Valfred's suite. With a deep breath and a nod he pushed the door open and led his companions in.

"Alright, you old kook! Come out, I know you're in here!" screamed Fret as they stormed the front chamber of the suite. He stalked around the room on edge, looking for Valfred to come out.

"Or not…" he finally deadpanned, after a look around made it apparent that Valfred wasn't actually there. Liu couldn't help but crack a grin at his friend.

"He might be somewhere else around here," Liu suggested. "Let's keep moving."

* * *

Further down the hall, the group came upon another room that had a soft green light pouring out from underneath. Unlike the last door, Fret had no hesitation. With a loud _crack_ the heel of his boot connected with the door and ripped the bolt right through the wooden door frame. The door slammed against the wall as it swung open, causing Valfred to visibly jump in surprise.

"There you are, kook!" Fret growled.

Quickly regaining his composure, Valfred's expression of surprise shifted to a condescending glare. "Ahhh… I should not be surprised that you made it this far. You are a persistent little gnat…"

"You got that right!"

"Uhhh… Fret?" said Liu, "that wasn't a compliment."

Valfred continued. "I admire your determination and force of will. I suppose I should have known it was more than just an empty promise you made in the 11th world, when you said we'd meet again."

"Stop stalling!" exclaimed Marica. "We know what you're up to!"

"As much as I admire your persistence," continued Valfred as if he hadn't heard the young girl, "unfortunately it's that same trait that makes you meddle with the futures of people that do not want your _help_."

Fret scowled. "I already told you! You can keep your phony utopia! Just leave the rest of us out of it!"

Sighing, Valfred shook his head. "I am afraid you and I will never see eye to eye on this. It pains me to do this, but if I must resist you to buy more time than I shall." With a wave of his hand, he summoned a pair of Dullahans, who like the Akephaloi were towering headless beasts that floated above the ground rather than walking.

Jale and Fret launched themselves forward simultaneously, each taking the initiative against a Dullahan. They both flipped backwards out of the way just before a wave of water from Marica crashed down on the pair of enemies, wiping them both out.

"I'm guessing 15 seconds wasn't quite the time you had in mind," said Jale, smirking.

Valfred ran his hand over his face, exasperated. "I suppose I will simply have to do this myself." With that he waved his hand to summon more monsters. He summoned one Gigas Arms beast, but before he could summon a second, Fret in a blur made a move that stopped Valfred in his tracks. Suddenly, Valfred screamed in pain, looking down in horror at the knife run through his wrist hilt deep, shattering the bones and severing the tendons, and causing blood to gush from the severed veins.

Fret didn't even blink, glaring darkly at the Order chancellor. "Nuh uh, stick to doing it _yourself,_ without all these Rarohenga monsters."

His face contorting in pain, Valfred ripped the blackened blade from his limp wrist, undecided at which was more disturbing - the menacing blade coated in the sticky dark red film of his own blood, or the blade nearly taking his hand off at the wrist and leaving it hanging limply and unusable. Cursing, he tossed the knife aside with his good hand while ducking back behind the lone Gigas Arms there to aid him.

Jale couldn't resist adding more fuel to the fire. "I guess you'll be dating the _other_ hand tonight, _my lord_." Liu couldn't help but chuckle, while the girls rolled their eyes. Fret's intense gaze never faltered, this was the culmination of all they'd worked for and he was hyper-focused. He activated his _Two-Way Thrust_ mark of the stars and charged the Gigas Arms. The devastating attack single-handedly took down the beast, and without missing a beat the locked in Fret spun around the decapitated Gigas and lashed out at Valfred. He caught the unprepared chancellor across the chest with the first backhanded slash of his left blade, and raked his right blade down in a forehand chop that split open the chest of the robed older man. He then immediately followed it up with a _Flame Vortex_ mark. Valfred dropped to the ground in a wailing heap of flesh.

Fret twirled his blades as he stood over his fallen enemy, going back and forth in his mind on whether or not he was going to finish him off or let him bleed out. Before he could make up his mind, Valfred began to glow a soft blue from the _healing light _he cast upon himself to heal his injuries. Coughing, Valfred stood up and began to chuckle softly.

"I almost feel bad telling you this, but you have already lost," said Valfred.

"I don't think so!"

"You never give up, even at the end, do you? But alas, I have already used the _True Chronicle_ to bring about the 12th world and the descent of the One King. And the time for that is now."

Suddenly the room flashed in a bright light, and the gateway portal in the center of room began to glow.

"Noooooo!" screamed the five Starbearers simultaneously. Marica began hyperventilating, this was _not_ happening.

Valfred laughed gleefully. "Welcome, my lord! Allow me to present you with the true chronicle of our world. Please use it to bring unity to our world under your rule. One world! One future!"

"Shut the hell up, you old kook!" shouted Fret. Glaring at the One King, he added, "You weak bastard! You killed off your friends and family, for nothing! Take a good look at the son you lost, and leave this world and never come back!"

The One King stared at Fret curiously, as if he was sizing him up, perhaps trying to recall a memory just out of reach. He didn't reply, however. Instead, he raised the True Chronicle above him, it beginning to glow in his hands.

"Dammit!" Fret swore. "Attack!" Activating his _Masterpiece_ mark, Fret swiftly glided forward, effortlessly whistling his blades through the air before crashing them down in a crushing attack on the One King. Much to his dismay, his attack appeared to do no damage.

Marica notched a pair of arrows on her bow and cut loose. They found their mark, slamming into the chest of the One King, but again did no damage. Jale leapt forward, and in a motion blur unloaded a flurry of blows against the One King. Flipping back away, he also shook his head at the lack of impact his attack had. Liu knew that it wouldn't do any good for him to make his own useless attack, so he threw up a _Magic Canopy_ mark to give the group better protection if the One King countered with a magic attack of his own.

The One King made no effort to attack. He stood there, practically taunting the group of Starbearers with his indifference to their assault. That only made Fret angrier, and like previous times in the past the rage fueled him, awakening the power of the Tenkai Star inside him. Fret glowed briefly, a visible indication of the power coursing through him. His friends recognized it, and drew strength from him.

Going to the _Two-Way Thrust_ mark, Fret shot forward in a flash as he put everything he had into the physical attack. The One King took a step back from the force of it, but still didn't appear particularly hurt.

Fret was at a loss. He felt like they couldn't let this opportunity to end the war once and for all pass, but he also didn't know how they were going to score any significant damage. He looked back at his friends, scanning their eyes and expressions. Marica saw the look on his face, and she knew he was considering activating his _Dying Wish_ mark. She nodded at Fret, her eyes silently telling him she hated the idea, but that she understood they didn't have many options available.

"Erin! Liu!" she barked. "Fret is going to use _Dying Wish_. Us three need to focus all of our healing on keeping him alive while he does it. We will _not_ let him die on us!"

As Fret spun back around to unload on the One King, the True Chronicle glowed even brighter and suddenly the entire room was washed in a blinding white light…

* * *

"…ake… up…"

"Wake… up…"

As consciousness slowly returned to Fret, he became aware of a female voice calling to him.

"Waaake up!"

He blinked his eyes open to see Marica standing over him. "Fret, will you wake up already? We're gonna be late!"

"Oh, hey, beautiful," he said, smiling.

"Wh-what? What did you just say?"

Fret frowned. Suddenly the memories flooded back and the last thing he could remember was fighting the One King and the world going blank. "Mmmm…" he mumbled while trying to get his bearings.

Marica put her hands on her hips. "Don't think you can say whatever you want just because you're turning 15 tomorrow!" she said, scolding him. "Now get a move on! We've got to meet the others at the town square!"

"_F-f-fifteen?" _Fret thought to himself. For the first time since he woke he noticed that he was in his old room back in Citro Village. _"What the hell? I couldn't have dreamed all that, could I?" _He sat up slowly, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

"You act like you're still asleep, come on already, sleepyhead!" grinned Marica, handing him his red leather armor and cudgel.

"Marica?" he asked tentatively and he pulled on his armor.

"Yeah?"

"Are you… I mean… am I…" He glanced at her expression and her eyes gave him the answer he was afraid of. They were devoid of the trait he'd grown accustomed to seeing in them – love. He gulped.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh… yeah, sorry… never mind, let's go…" _"I guess I'll just play along and see what happens. Maybe this is just one of those dreams that seem real."_

"Fret!" exclaimed Dirk upon seeing the younger man approaching where he was standing with Elder Rajim and Sisuca. "Glad you could join us this morning!"

Sisuca looked lovingly at him. "I can't believe my baby is going to be 15 tomorrow, all grown up!"

Fret shrugged sheepishly. "'Morning, Sisuca… Dirk… Elder Rajim."

"_What the hell is Dirk doing here? He's dead? Oh yeah… this is almost two years ago, before everything happened."_

"I must say," began Rajim, "I worried about you at times growing up, but you've grown into a fine young man."

"Think you're up for patrolling Eastern Hill without me today?" asked Dirk, grinning widely.

Fret smirked, thinking, _"What are a few laggarts, wild squirrels, and X bees after you've taken down thousands of much tougher enemies." _But instead of saying that, he simply nodded and said, "I think we'll manage."

"Well, you'd better get on your way so you'll be back before dark."

Nodding, Fret waved goodbye and walked across the square to where Marica, Jale, and Liu were waiting for him.

"You finally ready to go?" asked Marica sarcastically.

"Turning 15 tomorrow certainly hasn't made Fret more responsible," noted Jale dryly.

"But at least it's a good excuse for a party!" exclaimed Liu, laughing.

"Let's head out guys," said Jale, taking the lead. "It's going to be a long day and we need to get started."

The quartet from the Citro Defense Corps strolled happily back into town at dusk. Well, three of the four were happy anyway. Fret wore the same fake smile he'd had all day, keeping up a façade of contentment that hid the consternation within. The cockiness he'd hidden from Dirk in the morning went away shortly after they'd gotten out of town and ran into a pack of laggarts on the way to Eastern Hill. That was when Fret realized that _everything_ had gone back in time, including the combat skills he'd honed in the war with the Order of the One True Way. They hadn't been in any real danger of dying against the laggarts, but the battle was a far cry from the one-shot affair he was expecting. And later on he realized just how accustomed he'd become to having Marica's _Healing Wave_ and his own _Healing Tide_ marks of the stars available instead of only relying on physical healing supplies like _mega medicine_. Being so weak again was incredibly frustrating, even more so because he was the only one who realized it. Marica, Jale, and Liu didn't act like anything was wrong. He hoped he'd wake up soon to his real life.

"You've been awfully quiet today, Fret," Liu observed. "Not getting nervous about the big day tomorrow, are you?"

"Huh? Oh… sorry, nah… nothing like that. I've just felt a little… _off_… today."

Liu smirked. "Well, if you feel '_off'_ again tomorrow, I'll take your part of the big birthday feast that Sisuca is cooking up. I can't wait!"

Fret and Jale grinned, while Marica said, "I'm helping cook too, you know!"

"Liu's only excited because it's Sisuca doing the cooking," added Jale.

"No, that's not it at all!" replied Liu, defending himself.

Marica put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. "Then you won't mind if _I _make your part of the meal then, will you, Liu?"

"Wh-what? No!" exclaimed Liu. He began to blush when everyone laughed and he realized he'd been had.

"Well, I'd better get this raparo bird we killed over to Sisuca so she'll have it for tomorrow," said Jale. "It's getting late, so I'll catch you guys in the morning."

Liu walked with Jale as they left to take the bird for the next day's feast to Sisuca, leaving Marica and Fret together.

"You sure you're doing okay, Fret?"

Smiling, Fret nodded. "Yeah… sorry if I've seemed a little out of it today."

"I can't believe you're going to be 15 tomorrow. Time is just flying by!"

"_Or going in reverse in this case…" _he thought.

"I guess I'll be 15 myself in a few seasons," she continued. "Well, we'd better get back to the house so I can help Sisuca get ready for tomorrow."

As they began walking towards the house, Fret said, "Don't go to too much trouble for me."

"Are you kidding? I _love_ doing this kind of thing!" The two friends laughed easily, settling into a comfortable silence as they continued walking. Just before arriving at the house, Marica turned to Fret.

"Hey, Fret?"

"Yeah?"

"It was a great day, wasn't it?"

"_Surreal maybe…"_ he thought, but just smiled and nodded.

"Don't you wish every day could be like this?" she asked sweetly, not waiting for an answer before ducking inside.

"_Yeah… I don't know about that…"_

_

* * *

_

"…ake… up…"

"Wake… up…"

As consciousness slowly returned to Fret, he became aware of a female voice calling to him.

"Waaake up!"

He blinked his eyes open to see Marica standing over him. "Fret, will you wake up already? We're gonna be late!"

"Oh, hey, beautiful," he said, smiling.

"Wh-what? What did you just say?"

Fret frowned. Suddenly the memories flooded back and the last thing he could remember was this exact same exchange happening the previous day. "Mmmm…" he mumbled while trying to get his bearings.

Marica put her hands on her hips. "Don't think you can say whatever you want just because you're turning 15 tomorrow!" she said, scolding him. "Now get a move on! We've got to meet the others at the town square!"

"_T-t-tomorrow?" _Fret thought to himself. _"What the hell? Yesterday my birthday was supposed to be today?" _He sat up slowly, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

"You act like you're still asleep, come on already, sleepyhead!" grinned Marica, handing him his red leather armor and cudgel.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry… never mind, let's go…"

"Fret!" exclaimed Dirk upon seeing the younger man approaching where he was standing with Elder Rajim and Sisuca. "Glad you could join us this morning!"

Sisuca looked lovingly at him. "I can't believe my baby is going to be 15 tomorrow, all grown up!"

Fret shrugged sheepishly. "'Morning, Sisuca… Dirk… Elder Rajim." "_Okay, so this is getting freaky…"_

"I must say," began Rajim, "I worried about you at times growing up, but you've grown into a fine young man."

"Think you're up for patrolling Eastern Hill without me today?" asked Dirk, grinning widely.

Even though he had a sinking feeling of déjà vu inside, he smirked and nodded to Dirk, just like he had the previous day. And as he was suspecting, the day carried out just like the previous one.

….

"Hey, Fret?"

"Yeah?"

"It was a great day, wasn't it?"

"_Kinda repetitive…"_ he thought, but just smiled and nodded.

"Don't you wish every day could be like this?"

* * *

"…ake… up…"

"Wake… up…"

As consciousness slowly returned to Fret, he became aware of a female voice calling to him.

"Waaake up!"

He blinked his eyes open to see Marica standing over him. "Fret, will you wake up already? We're gonna be late!"

"Oh, hey… Marica," he said.

Fret frowned, the memories from the previous days flooded back. _"Please let it be different, please let it be different…"_

"Mmmm…" he mumbled while trying to get his bearings.

Marica put her hands on her hips. "Is that all you have to say? Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you're turning 15 tomorrow!" she said, scolding him. "Now get a move on! We've got to meet the others at the town square!"

Once again the day played out just like the previous two, ending with the same exchange between Fret and Marica at the end.

"Hey, Fret?"

"Yeah?"

"It was a great day, wasn't it?"

"_No!"_ he screamed to himself, _"It's not supposed to be the same day over and over and over!" _But he just smiled and nodded.

"Don't you wish every day could be like this?"

* * *

"…ake… up…"

"Wake… up…"

As consciousness slowly returned to Fret, he became aware of a female voice calling to him.

"Waaake up!"

He blinked his eyes open to see Marica standing over him. "Fret, will you wake up already? We're gonna be late!"

Fret didn't answer right away, tensing up as soon a he realized it was happening again. "Oh, hey… Marica," he said softly with a sigh.

Marica put her hands on her hips. "Is that all you have to say? Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you're turning 15 tomorrow!" she said, scolding him. "Now get a move on! We've got to meet the others at the town square!"

He sat up slowly, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

"You act like you're still asleep, come on already, sleepyhead!" grinned Marica, handing him his red leather armor and cudgel.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"No…" he said, exasperated by the situation. "It's… it's all the same…"

"What's the same?"

"Every day… every day is the same and no one remembers it but me. I can't even explain it without you thinking I'm crazy, but I… oh, never mind."

Marica raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Well… maybe you'll feel better once you finish waking up," she suggested. "I'll meet you at the square with the others."

A few minutes later, Fret walked out the door of the house. He took a deep breath, taking a hard look left in the direction of the town square. Shaking his head, he turned to the right instead and headed north. His mind was made up, he had to find out if Castle Starcache was there. He had to escape this _nightmare_. It wasn't that he didn't love his friends. And if he didn't know any better he'd have to admit that it _was_ a pretty damn good day he was reliving. But he _did_ know better, and he finally understood what the predetermined future chancellor Valfred preached was all about. They'd had it completely wrong. It wasn't that the future was predetermined in the sense that people's conscious lives were going to be controlled. The reality was that there was no future at all! Everyone would just be reliving a day from their past over and over, blissfully unaware.

As he made his way north, it was a welcome relief that Flesaria Forest was still there. That sustained his hope that the castle and Cherem Company were still there, and that he'd be able to get his real life back. While walking and lost in thought, it dawned on him that this was another situation where being a Starbearer made a difference. Just like they were able to remember the way the world used to be before fusions took place, apparently the Starbearers were able to remember the real world even while living the fake "future" of the One King. He briefly wondered if the average person would actually be happy reliving one of the best days of their lives over and over with no memory of it, where it was fresh and new to them every day even though it really wasn't. But he extinguished the doubt almost as soon as it began to creep in. It didn't matter if everyone but the Starbearers were happy living in their phony utopias. It wasn't _real_, and when the physical bodies of everyone trapped in their own minds eventually died of starvation or old age or whatever, there wouldn't be any world left. Only Cherem Company could give the world its future back.

Fret broke into a sprint as Castle Starcache came into view. He was practically giddy as he burst through the south doors, running through the rooms and the main entrance hall until he screeched to a halt in the tavern. Suddenly it became apparent…

The castle was empty.

He was alone.


	42. Reclaiming the Present

Fret rested his chin in his hand with a deep sigh, his elbows propped up on the bar in the castle tavern. _"It's been a long time since I fixed my own breakfast,"_ he thought as he poked around at his plate with his other hand. He didn't give voice to his thought, though a humorless chuckle escaped his lips. He'd complained in private from time to time about being hounded if he spent too much time hanging out in the tavern. But the eerie silence permeating the castle was deafening and he'd gladly welcome being hassled about now.

"_I'd even hang out with Tuhululu, Maybelle, and Icas about now. Anything for this all to feel normal again!" _he thought.

He'd arrived at the deserted company headquarters the previous afternoon, and spent much of the evening in a chair on the balcony of his room overlooking the southern horizon. He was anxious to spot any sign of activity, of someone approaching. But eventually the fatigue from his dogged pace in getting here from Citro caught up with him, and heavy lidded eyes finally closed for the night. In the morning when he woke up he made a quick sweep through the castle, only to be disappointed to find it as barren as it had been the previous day. Fret took some solace in seeing that despite it being empty, everything about the castle was exactly as he remembered it being before they left for Cynas. He only hoped the other Starbearers would have the same idea he had and make their way back to Castle Starcache.

Finishing the meal he prepared, Fret reached over and grabbed one of the bowls of nuts that Logan kept out on the bar. After a couple of bites and muttering about the stale nature of the snack, he started tossing them one at a time up into the air and catching them in his mouth, doing anything to alleviate the boredom.

"Most_ impressive!"_ called out a voice sarcastically from behind him. Fret had gotten so caught up in the dumb little game of seeing how many in a row he could get that he became oblivious to his surroundings. The unexpected company startled him and caused him to start choking on the mouthful of nuts. He spun around, grasping his throat as he stared in panic at the source of the voice.

"Fret!" she exclaimed worriedly, moving quickly and gracefully to his side before not so delicately whacking him on the back to dislodge the blockage. He coughed violently.

"I'm so sorry!" she said, handing him his drink from the bar counter. He poured it back quickly, and after catching his breath he grinned.

"_Sure_ you are…" he replied, chuckling. "This isn't the first time you've tried to kill me, you know?"

Chrodechild laughed lightly. "You are such a sight for sore eyes. There is no way I would do that on purpose."

Fret stepped forward and wrapped Chrodechild up in a strong embrace. She involuntarily tensed slightly at the unexpected response before allowing herself to relax and warmly return the hug. She really did care deeply for the younger man, and thanks in no small part to him she was more comfortable than ever in expressing those kinds of feelings.

He explained that he had just arrived the previous day, and that she was the first person other than him to get back. They shared their experiences with the predetermined future and found out that they had been largely the same. For Chrodechild, her perpetual day was from a few years earlier, a "girl's day out" she spent with Fredegund and their mother. But as with Fret, she retained all of her memories and after the first couple of days knew she had to get out of there.

Chrodechild pointed out that as soon as she escaped from the sphere of influence of the dreamstate, namely the area in which it took place, she transformed back into her current self, down to the clothes and equipment she was carrying at the time the One King invoked the predetermined future. Fret shrugged sheepishly, saying he realized that he'd turned back into himself at some point, but he hadn't made the connection with when or where it happened.

* * *

By mid-afternoon the restless companions decided to go outside and spar to work off some of their nervous energy. They each grabbed a pair of dulled practice broadswords from the training equipment rack before heading to the castle grounds outside the main entrance. The duo trained hard together for over an hour, taking breaks periodically to catch their breath and comment or ask about a particular technique the other had used. As usual, Fret was a sponge for new tactics and techniques, quickly absorbing what she told him. He always felt like there was something new to learn and was constantly looking for ways to improve his skills. It was just ingrained in his personality.

After a final clash and break, Chrodechild began to laugh as Fret once again launched into a series of questions.

"Fret, I should be learning from _you_ at this point, not the other way around."

His brow furrowed slightly. "Whaddaya mean?"

"You have clearly surpassed my skill with a blade. What I do, I do well, but you are a much more versatile fighter than myself. It is uncanny the way you seamlessly change styles or tactics on the fly. Opponents have a very small window of opportunity between finding a weakness and exploiting it before you have covered it up."

"Maybe, but what _you_ do is still better than what _I_ do, even if I do more of it. You've gotten me just as much as I've gotten you in our sparring."

She shook her head, smiling slightly. "Do not sell yourself short, your skills are second to none. Let me illustrate it this way, were you coming at me with absolutely everything you had in our session just now?"

"Of course not, it's just a friendly spar. I mean, I've been using my full arsenal and trying hard to win each skirmish and all, but I'm not going at you like my life depends on it or anything."

Chrodechild nodded, her face taking on a slightly serious expression. "Well, I _am_ fighting like my life depends on it. I put myself into that mindset and have been giving it everything I have. And you are up 8 to 5, by the way, so it has not been as even as you suggest. I have no doubt the score would be even more lopsided if you were fighting with life and death intensity."

"You've been keeping score? I… I don't know what to say…"

Chrodechild chuckled. "Fret, it does not shame me that you are the superior blademaster. I am confident in my own capabilities, and I strive to always keep improving. I know you do as well." She added in a softer voice, "I am more proud of you than you know. It is an honor to call you my friend, my commander."

Fret blushed slightly. "Yeah, well… I owe more to you and the oth-"

"Stop!" she said in a firm and mildly scolding voice.

"Wh-what?"

"You will _not_ stand here and diminish my words or wiggle out of taking credit. My compliment was sincere, and I expect you to accept it as such."

Nodding with a contrite grin that showed he took her reprimand in the serious but well-intentioned way she meant it, he replied, "Yes, ma'am."

Just then, both Chrodechild and Fret caught a brief glint of the sun reflecting off of something metal in the distance. Whether armor or a weapon was irrelevant, the important part was that it was someone approaching.

* * *

She hadn't mentioned it to her companions, but Marica had been nervous. She'd met up with Liu shortly after breaking free from her own repetitive day, and not long after that they'd run into Jale north of Citro Village. The three of them journeyed together back to Castle Starcache, and much to her chagrin there had been no sign of Fret along the way. The last thing she remembered before time reset was Fret turning towards the One King to unload _Dying Wish_ on him. She didn't know if he even got it off, or what might have happened if he did.

Jale and Liu had made knowing eye contact several times along the way. Even if Marica hadn't said anything about being worried, her body language told them exactly what kind of thoughts were going through her head. Jale realized that he was surprisingly at ease in his own mind regarding Erin and the other friends and family he hadn't see yet since the events in Cynas. Meeting back up with Liu and Marica and finding out they all had similar experiences gave him confidence that it was the same for all of the Starbearers, and it was just a matter of everyone getting back home to Castle Starcache and regrouping.

As the trio from Citro approached the castle, they saw a couple of people standing outside the castle long before they themselves were noticed. Their pace quickened, and as soon as they got close enough to identify the pair, Marica broke into a sprint that left Jale and Liu chuckling in her dust while they started jogging after her. It didn't take long for Fret and Chrodechild to recognize the long slim body with bouncing white pony tails racing towards them.

* * *

After a very happy reunion, the Citro gang and Chrodechild went back inside, where they ran into Servillah. It turned out that the entire Furious Roar tribe had just gotten back, but had entered the castle through the northern entrance, so they hadn't seen Fret and Chrodechild out front.

By nightfall several other groups of Starbearers had arrived, and by the end of the following day most had returned. Even though not everyone was back, Fret decided they couldn't wait too long before taking action, and called a meeting in the Grand Hall to figure out what they were going to do next. During the meeting it was decided to send out search parties to do some reconnaissance of Cynas and a few other towns to see what the state of the current world was.

As the meeting was concluding, the Auster Folk entered the hall and Vaslof advised them not to bother with Cynas. It turned out that they went to Cynas first rather than coming straight back to the castle, and what they found at Cynas was troubling. The city was surrounded by a dozen pillars of blue-green light and a dense fog blanketed much of the area, including the Tower of the Way. The 12 pillars seemed to form a protective barrier around Cynas, preventing anyone from getting in or out.

"How the heck are we supposed to get back in there then?" asked a rather exasperated Fret.

No one had an answer to the question, and an apprehensive silence filled the room for several minutes. Finally, Mubal spoke up.

"Master Fret, if I may? The pillars of light are likely being driven by the True Chronicle. If we used 12 false Chronicles, I believe we could counteract the effects of the True Chronicle, cancel it out if you will."

Fret rubbed his chin as he pondered what Mubal said. "You think that'd work, Scholar Guy?"

Mubal grinned. "Well… hmmm… how does it go again? Oh, yes… ahem… we'll never know until we try." Everyone laughed, including Fret.

"Dude…" laughed Jale, "I can't believe you walked right into that one!"

"The logic is sound," offered Diadora, steering the discussion back on topic. "I think it should work."

Mubal nodded. "We only have 11 Chronicles at present though, so we would need to obtain a 12th somehow."

"The 12th world that Valfred brought in would have a Chronicle wouldn't it?" asked Asad.

"That's right!" exclaimed Liu. "And I'd bet old Valfred didn't even both going after it since he thinks he's won."

"Sounds like we know where we're going then," Fret stated.

"I'll go along to help find the Chronicle," said Luo-Tao, speaking up for the first time.

Fret nodded. "Luo-Tao, myself, Marica, Chrodechild, and Asad. Everyone else do what you did last time in getting ready to storm Cynas. We'll be taking our show back to town for a repeat engagement after we've gotten the 12th Chronicle."

Marica smirked. "Let's just hope it doesn't turn into another endlessly repeating show like our so-called futures were."

* * *

"Is it just me, or has this been stupidly easy?" asked Fret rhetorically, glancing at his companions. "I mean, this has got to be it, right?" he added, pointing to a book on the ground a short distance in front of them.

They'd navigated the 12th world, which was an oddly distorted version of Cynas. The party stood at the apex of the crumbled alternate Tower of the Way, and the false Chronicle of the world lay before them on the ground. They had fought more of the Rarohenga type monsters along the way, though primarily the Darkness Pawns and Darkness Bishops that were very easily handled. A few Darkness Rooks had been in the mix, but even those went down without much effort.

"Well, maybe it _is_ just that the chancellor believes he has already won and is not looking to obtain this Chronicle," suggested Asad.

"Still," replied Chrodechild, "We would be wise to keep our guard up. An enemy is most vulnerable when it thinks it faces no threat."

Marica nodded, her expression one of being slightly on edge. "And since big mouth here had to go and comment on how easy it's been, you know we're not getting out of here without getting called on that."

"Awww, come on!" chuckled Fret. "So anyway, you guys wanna take bets on what new marks you'll get from the Chronicle? I'm betting Marica gets a more powerful healing mark, like _healing tide_ maybe. Chrodechild already has that wicked _True Falcon_, so maybe something more complimentary like _Vengeance_ for a better counter rate or _Autoshield_ for physical defense. Asad? Hmmm… you've already got some powerful elemental attacks with _Flame Vortex _and _Havoc Cyclone _and _Spear Downpour_. It'd be nice if you could get a healing mark too since you don't have any of those. Luo-Tao is so in tune with the Chronicles that he probably already knows what he's getting."

"You are _so_ getting _Ire_," replied Marica, grinning as she poked Fret in the chest.

"What? A mark to get myself all pissed off when I fight? What makes you say I'll get that?"

"Come on, Fret. You've been playing the whole emo angsty teen rage thing for the last few seasons," she said, playfully giving him a hard time. "It's only fitting that you get _Ire_ to complete it."

"She has a point there, Fret," agreed Asad.

"No way! I'm not some emo freak! Chrodechild, back me up here!"

Chrodechild chuckled in response. "Sorry, my friend, you have been rather umm… what is that word again? Oh, right… _uptight_ of late."

Fret's jaw dropped open at _her_ calling _him_ uptight. "Wow… just… wow…" he said. "I love you guys too…" he added sarcastically before stepping over towards the Chronicle. "No freakin' way I'm getting _Ire_, I'm gonna get something cooler than-"

As soon as he touched the Chronicle and it began to glow, a Darkness Queen and a pair of Darkness Rooks materialized behind them, blocking off the exit.

"Yeah, so what was that about this being 'stupidly easy' again?" asked Marica with a sigh.

* * *

Fret and Chrodechild leapt forward in unison, both attacking the same Darkness Rook at the right of the enemy's front line. The skilled warriors fought as if in a choreographed dance of death, moving in tandem while carving up the powerful but slow moving Rook. By the time they retreated together, the Rook was gravely wounded.

While the two frontline fighters had been doing their thing, Asad launched a _Flame Vortex_ at the other Rook, scoring moderate damage. Marica concluded the Cherem Company team's initial attack by throwing a _Spear Torrent_ at all three enemies. Her devastating attack finished off the first Rook, left the second Rook nearly dead, and wounded the Queen.

The Rook spun forward at Fret with a powerful physical attack. Fret parried, but the force of the blunt blow crashing into him mildly hurt him as it knocked him back briefly and prevented him from countering. The Queen eyed the party momentarily before firing a laser attack that scorched both Fret and Chrodechild simultaneously before they could react and evade. The attack did a fair amount of damage to them both, though Chrodechild took the worst since Fret's health was always slightly buoyed by the special necklace Gorno had made for him.

Marica sent a _Healing Wave_ at the team, which healed the wounds inflicted by the Queen, while Asad unloaded another _Flame Vortex_ that took out the remaining Rook. Chrodechild activated her _True Falcon_ mark for triple the normal physical damage output, and Fret used _Two-Way Strike_ for double damage at the expense of some of his own health. The duo slammed hard into the Darkness Queen, causing it to screech out in pain.

The battle continued for several more rounds with Marica providing healing while the other three attacked, and eventually they wore down and finished off the Queen.

* * *

"I suppose I'll spare you the 'I told you so'," Marica said, smirking. "So much for _'stupidly easy'_ though."

"Well, we got through it anyway, let's get out of here."

As the party began descending the tower, Asad said, "By the way, I did get _Healing Tide_ from the Chronicle, so I received a healing mark after all."

"Cool!" exclaimed Marica with a smile. "I couldn't be happier with mine, I got _Revival Ray._ Between that and the _Cure Glow _and _Healing Wave_ I already have, I'm pretty much set for keeping this big doofus going!" she giggled, gesturing at Fret.

"I received _Autoshield_, so it appears Fret called that one too," replied Chrodechild. "So what about you, Fret?"

"What'd you get, Luo-Tao?" asked Fret, ducking the question.

The stoic Scribe shrugged nonchalantly. "_Sleep Frost,_" he answered.

"Pretty sweet, that's a nice one to have," Fret remarked as he continued to tread the path down the tower. After about 30 seconds of silence, Chrodechild was about to ask again when Marica spoke up.

"Well, what'd you get, Fret?" asked Marica. "Or are you going to just ignore that Chrodechild asked you already?"

Fret muttered something under his breath that the others couldn't make out. Marica, Chrodechild, and Asad all looked at each other quizzically.

"We did not hear what you said, could you repeat that?" Asad requested.

"Hey, you guys think we'll make it back in time for dinner tomorrow? I wonder what chef Wustum will have cooked up and all. Probably something-"

"Fret!" exclaimed Marica. "What mark did you get from the Chronicle?"

"Uhhh… I forget…" he said, looking away.

The others exchanged knowing glances before they all broke out in laughter. "Awww…" began Marica in a tone like a mother talking to a baby, "Did the mean ol' Chronicle stick poor wittle emo Fret with _Ire_?"

"Shut up…"

His response only brought more laughter from his companions, and even the very reserved Luo-Tao cracked a smile.

"You all suck…" he said, waving his hand dismissively before beginning to chuckle himself.

* * *

With the 12th Chronicle secured, the group made their way back to Castle Starcache. It was time to put together the plan and make the necessary preparations for the final battle. The previous 'last battle' had turned out to be a bit of a false start given what transpired, but they knew this time there was no return unless the One King was defeated.


	43. Reclaiming the Future part 1

"Speech! Speech!" shouted Jale mockingly after Liu finished laying out the strategy for the battle against the One King and everyone's attention turned towards Fret. This was typically the time when he'd speak to the group, and invariably he'd end up giving a motivational speech without intending to. The Starbearers shared a good natured laugh at his expense from Jale's comment, but truthfully they appreciated what Fret had to say because they knew he sincerely believed his own words and his enthusiasm was almost always contagious.

After scowling playfully, Fret cleared his throat. "I kinda feel like this is déjà vu," he admitted. "We thought we were heading into the final battle last time. The good news this time though is that the One King is already here…" The Starbearers glanced around the room at each other, confirming that they were all equally perplexed by that statement.

"How is it possibly a _good_ thing that the One King is already here?" asked Roberto incredulously. Several others nodded in agreement.

Fret grinned slyly, he knew _someone _would take the bait he threw out there. "Because _now_ this isn't just about protecting only our world, where we stop the One King from coming here for now but he'd still be free to continue ruining other worlds." As Fret paused briefly, his expression shifted from one of reserved hope to outright unabashed optimism. The people in the room could practically see the fire in his eyes as he continued speaking.

"No, _this_ time the One King made a fatal mistake. He came to our world, and now he has to deal with _us_. I don't care what anyone thinks, we're more than he can handle. And when we take that bastard down, we'll not only have saved our world, we'll have put an end to his reign across the entire Infinity!" Cheers erupted from the gathered Starbearers in response.

"It ain't gonna be easy, but nothing worth fighting for ever is. You guys are the best. Many of you have survived battles with the One King in other worlds. Now you're all here, and adding up our combined might I _know_ we're the strongest group of Starbearers ever assembled! The One King thinks we're just another world to crush under his boot. But he's got another thing coming! We're all in, and together we will _not _fail! We leave in the morning, gang. So everyone do whatever you need to, make sure your marks of the stars and equipment are all set the way you want, and then let's go do this!"

His concluding words brought thunderous applause from the crowd. For a change, not even his closest friends teased him any after his stirring speech. They were just as inspired as everyone else, and ready to follow their friend and leader anywhere.

* * *

After the meeting dispersed, Fret went and found the wanderer Hotupa. "Hey, I've got a task for you," he said as he approached the older man.

"Sure, what do you need me to do?"

"I want you to go visit Atrie and the other Marica and let them know what's going on, that we're heading out to take on the One King. And of course to find out if they had any better luck stopping the One King's descent than we did."

Hotupa nodded. "I'll get together some of the other Wanderers and we'll make a team effort of it!"

"Thanks, Hotupa." After a moment, he added, "I appreciate everything you and the Wanderers have done for us."

Hotupa looked at the younger man curiously. "What's this getting sentimental all of a sudden?"

Chuckling, Fret shook his head. "Nah, it's nothing like that. I just get so busy sometimes that I forget to say 'thank you' enough. People may look to me to lead and all, but it's been a total team effort, and I know that we wouldn't have gotten this far without your guys' help."

Hotupa smiled. "It's been our pleasure, but thank you for saying so. Anything else you want me to pass along to your friends in the other worlds?"

"Yeah, if they're still fighting in their worlds, tell them good luck for me. Tell them I hope they'll come and visit again after this is all over."

* * *

"Hey, you…" she whispered gently, cradling his face in her hand. "What's on your mind? You look like you have something you want to say."

Fret and Marica were lounging together in the EZ chair out on the balcony of their room. Earlier in the evening they had gone up to the roof along with quite a few others and witnessed a passionate singing performance by Sisuca. And all throughout the day Fret had made the rounds through the castle, talking to each and every Cherem Company member one last time before they departed for Cynas. Maybe he was being a little 'sentimental' as Hotupa had put it, but he really did want everyone to know how much they meant to him. But now he was in practically his favorite place in the world, looking out at the nighttime sky while holding his wife, who was sitting in his lap.

Fret returned her loving gaze. "You've always been able to read me," he said, chuckling softly. She nodded and smiled in response, not saying anything as she waited for him to continue.

"I've just been thinking. I have no doubt we'll figure out a way to beat the One King. But… it doesn't mean we'll all survive."

"What are you getting at?" she asked, frowning.

He sighed softly. "Marica, I'm not planning on getting myself killed or anything, but _if_ it happens, I… I just want you to know that it's okay for you to move on, to find another guy to have a good life with."

"And what makes you think I'd want to be with anyone but _you_," she replied in a slightly irritated tone.

Fret shook his head gently. "I'm not talking about next week or even next season, or that you should forget about me. I'm just saying I want you to be able to live your life without feeling guilty about me or anything."

She chewed on her bottom lip, unsure of how to reply. She really didn't like him talking like this, even if it was only hypothetical. He recognized her expression and continued.

"Please don't get me wrong, I _don't_ intend to die. But it could happen, you know, to any of us really." He sighed again. "I love you so much, Marica, I can't bear the thought of you being sad and lonely the rest of your life."

"Yeah? Well…" she began, her voice beginning to crackle and waver, "You'd… just better not die then."

"Marica… _please_… I'm being serious here."

She nodded in resignation. "I know…" she whispered. "It's just hard to imagine ever being happy again without you. I'll promise to _try_, as long as you do too if I die and you live."

He leaned over and kissed her gently. "I know what you mean. Trust me, you're not some thing like a sword or whatever that can be replaced. I could never be happier with someone else than I am with you."

"I… I think… I think I understand that finally. I mean… you know I've had a hard time with… insecurity… when it comes to you, even though it didn't make sense to be. Heck, Erin even basically told me I was being stupid about it. But Rarohenga finally opened my eyes. I _trust _you, Fret."

To him, hearing that made him every bit as happy as hearing her tell him she loved him. "Marica… you know my heart. I'm going to do everything I can to get us both through this battle, because I don't want us to lose _this_." He made it clear the 'this' he was referring to was the simple contentment of tender moments like they were now experiencing. "I want nothing more than to hold you like this every night, and for you to know I love you not just because I say the words, but because when you look at me you see it in my soul laid bare."

"You-you're going to make me cry if you keep this up," she said with a slight smirk.

"Oh?" he replied, grinning mischievously. "Well, we'd better do something about that then." He ran his hand up the inside of her thigh, which resulted in a completely different response. Encouraged by her reaction, he continued his ministrations, eliciting husky moans of pleasure from her as she trembled and squirmed in his lap. Minutes later she tossed her head back and shuddered intensely, her breathing a rapid fire staccato for several long moments before slowly calming back down to normal.

"Mission _accomplished_…" she whispered appreciatively before sultrily adding with a wink, "Except you're gonna have to collect your reward from _me_ instead of Moana."

Fret laughed at Marica's joke, squeezing her tighter in his arms. He'd _collect_ later, but for now he was at peace right where he was and was in no hurry to move.

* * *

A sharp rap at the door woke Jale and Erin from their sleep. "Yeah?" Jale called out groggily.

"Hey, it's Fret, can I come in?"

Jale looked out the window, noticing the sun was up but that it still appeared to be pretty early. "Mmmm… it can't be time to go already?" he replied. He heard Fret laugh from outside.

"Just open the door already!"

Erin got up and put on her robe as she went and unlocked the door. She smiled sleepily as she noticed the bundle Fret was carrying in his arms, letting him into the room.

"What's up, dude?" asked Jale upon seeing his friend.

"Didn't know you had _company_," he said, grinning wickedly. "This works out though since I needed to see Erin too anyway. I got you guys some presents for the trip!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "You know, something that I needed to give you before you bothered _getting dressed_ and all."

Jale shook his head while chuckling. His friend had entirely too much energy for this time of morning.

Fret smirked at his friends, handing packages to each. Jale opened his to reveal a set of high end dragon leather armor. It was extremely tough while still retaining the flexibility required of a martial artist like Jale. Erin opened hers to find an exquisite set of butterfly robes, which were some of the best mage robes available anywhere.

"Wow…" she breathed.

"Wow, indeed," agreed Jale. "Thanks, man."

"This is also for you, Erin," said Fret, handing her something that made her raise an eyebrow quizzically.

Fret chuckled at her reaction. "This is _Prominence_, a mace that has a powerful enchantment that enhances magical abilities just from carrying it."

Erin nodded. "I'm guessing though there is more to you giving me this than that?"

Sighing gently, Fret nodded. "I obviously don't expect you to fight, but I also don't like the idea of you being completely unarmed if something happens to us. A mace in general isn't the most powerful weapon, but it's pretty much the simplest to use effectively. If I'd thought of it sooner I'd have given you some basic lessons. If you want though, we can do that along the way to Cynas."

"You are so thoughtful, thanks," she replied, hugging him warmly.

"You're welcome. Anyway, I've got to go give Liu what I got for him. We'll meet you guys downstairs in an hour or so for breakfast, and then we'll all head out."

* * *

After Fret left, Erin turned around to see Jale shaking his head as if in disbelief. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing really… he just amazes me sometimes at how casual he is about stuff like this."

"What do you mean?"

"Just that he doesn't act like it's any big deal, and doesn't draw attention to just how much it costs him."

Erin frowned slightly, her brow furrowing. "I'm afraid I still don't understand."

Jale held up the dragon leather armor. "He knew I was looking at this down in Gadburg's shop awhile back. Our _discounted_ price is 50,000 potch."

Erin gasped. "Really?"

Jale laughed. "Erin, that isn't the half of it. Those butterfly robes you've got in your hands? You know they're like the ones Len-Lien wears. They go for 80,000 potch."

It was Erin's turn to shake her head in disbelief. "He spent _that_ much on us?"

"No, he spent about three times that much. Gadburg sells that mace you've got there for 250,000 potch. It's one of the most expensive weapons he carries down there."

She gasped again. "I… I had no idea…"

"That's what I meant about Fret being so casual about it. Like with the necklaces, Marica told me that he dropped something like 300,000 potch worth of his own materials on them, but when he gave them to us it was like he didn't give it a second thought. When a lot of people give gifts it's like they want you to know just how much they spent and all, like you're supposed to appreciate the cost just as much as if not more than the gift itself. But not Fret."

Erin nodded. "You know, I've never actually seen anyone give _him_ anything, other than the wedding gifts of course. One of these days we're going to have to do something really nice for him."

* * *

When Jale and Erin arrived in the tavern, they saw Fret, Marica, and Liu already at a table eating. Marica was wearing her own new dragon leather armor like Jale, and Liu had on a new set of master's robes. Jale frowned slightly. He didn't fail to notice that Fret was wearing his same sky blue armor, which while nice, wasn't so good that he couldn't have gotten anything better. The dragon leather that he and Marica wore was significantly better than Fret's armor.

"Hey, man," said Jale to Fret as he approached the table, "where's _your_ new gear?"

Fret shrugged and laughed. "Nah, I'm good. You guys look sharp though."

"Thanks again, Fret," said Erin. "It means a lot to me."

Fret waved his hand. "It's cool, don't worry about."

"I'm not _worrying_ about it," Erin replied, smiling. "I'm thanking you for an incredibly generous gift."

Stifling a sigh that didn't go completely unnoticed, Fret replied, "Nah, I've got a selfish motivation for upgrading you guys." Winking at them, he continued, "I'm going to be relying on you to fight alongside me and to keep me on my feet. I want you all to have the best equipment possible."

Marica punched him in the arm. "Don't act like that, Fret. That's crap and you know it."

He nodded contritely. "Sorry, I just didn't want everyone making a big deal about it. Anyway, I hope it serves you guys well."

Logan came over carrying a couple of plates for Jale and Erin. "Chow down, folks, we've only got about an hour until we leave."

Fret silently thanked Logan for changing the subject. "Yep, a couple of more cups of coffee and I'll be ready to hit the road."

"Right…" teased Marica, "because you're obviously not hyper enough yet." His mock indignation caused everyone to laugh.

* * *

A few days later, the entirety of Cherem Company stood at the cusp of Cynas, staring at the scene before them of the pillars of light and the thick fog clinging to the city. Fret called for everyone's attention.

"Okay, guys. With the Chronicle of _Peaceful End_ we've got 12 Chronicles to deal with the 12 pillars of light. Liu has already laid out the 12 teams that will each take a Chronicle to deactivate a respective pillar. If Scholar Guy and Mana's theory is right, once the pillars are shutdown the fog should clear and we'll be able to march into the city and rendezvous at the Tower of the Way. Everyone has their assignments, so let's move out!"

Since Fret wasn't leading one of the 12 teams dealing with the pillars of light, he stood and watched as a bit less than half of Cherem Company made their way down the hill to begin surrounding the city. He was a bundle of nervous energy, but determined to maintain a calm front. So he forced himself to sit down and watch and wait. About the only outward sign of impatience he indulged himself in was to unsheathe one of his knives and spin it around effortlessly in first one hand and then the other.

Other Starbearers did various things to occupy their time while waiting for the pillars to drop. Some stood or sat around talking, some kept to themselves, some rechecked their equipment, and so on. Erin walked over a little ways away from her friends and started practicing with her mace like Fret had taught her. Initially she'd been quite skeptical when Fret gave her _Prominence_ and suggested that she have some basic fighting ability just in case. But after a couple of training sessions during stops along the way to Cynas, she'd found that she actually enjoyed it and laughed about not knowing what she was missing out on all this time. So now she found herself wanting to practice whenever she had the chance. It helped that she was a quick learner. The appearance of delicate femininity belied the toughness and sharp intellect inside, and she was not at all clumsy. Erin harbored no delusions that she was anywhere near ready to participate as an active fighter in a battle, but she knew it'd make her more versatile in the future.

Fret glanced over at her practicing and then shared smiles with Jale and Marica, who were also quietly observing. Marica had teased Erin mercilessly at first, since Erin had turned down numerous offers from her in the past to teach her how to use a bow or some other weapon, only to accept it from Fret the first time he suggested it. But truthfully Marica was glad to see her friend take up learning some combat skills. Not just because she thought it'd be useful for Erin to have, but because it gave the good friends even more in common.

* * *

Cheers went up when after a short time the first of the pillars was extinguished. Soon after that a second went out, and then another and another. With each pillar of light that was shutdown, the buzz around the Cherem Company camp grew. When the last pillar dropped a couple of hours after the teams set out, the remaining Starbearers roared in excitement. That is, until the fog cleared and they saw what stood where the Tower of the Way used to be.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Fret groaned. "How big of an ego can one guy have?"

"Apparently big enough to have statue of himself that reaches to the sky," answered Marica, even though the question didn't really warrant a response. What the Starbearers were all staring at in disbelief was a statue of the One King that had replaced the Tower of the Way. It appeared that the statue was the tower itself now, for it stood just as tall as the original tower.

Jale leaned over and with a sly grin whispered something to Fret, who in turn burst out laughing despite the serious situation.

"Dude! That's just wrong on so many levels!" he exclaimed, still laughing. Jale joined in the laughter. He then leaned over and told Liu, who immediately started laughing as well.

Fret finally stopped giggling long enough to call out for everyone to grab their gear and head into the city. As they began descending the hill towards the city, Marica and Erin smirked at the boys.

"Do we want to know?" asked Marica sarcastically.

"Ummm… probably not," Jale admitted.

Erin grinned. "Try us."

Liu began giggling again. "Let's just say it involved where we'll find Chancellor Valfred and the One King statue's …uhhh… _anatomy_."

"Ewwww…." Marica groaned, turning her nose up in disgust, causing the boys to start laughing again.

"You were right, we didn't want to know," agreed Erin, shaking her head.

* * *

The Cherem Company members made their way down the path to the statue of the One King, meeting up with the other half of the company outside the entrance.

"Is everyone here?" asked Fret.

"You'd better believe it!" declared Diulf.

"We did not encounter any resistance along the way," added Chrodechild.

"Everything has gone like clockwork! I'm impressed!" exclaimed Nimni.

"Yes," agreed Asad, "Everything so far is going according to plan."

"We've got all 12 Chronicles here, Fret," said Liu. "You ready to do this?"

"Yup. Moana, we've got 20 fighting teams of 5 Starbearers each. You've got everyone's assignments and everyone knows what team they're on. My team is going in first. After that, send in teams at one minute intervals. Most likely the One King is on the top floor, and the old kook may or may not be there with him. So everyone needs to make their way towards the top and to provide reinforcement for the teams in front of them if they run into a battle already in progress."

Moana nodded. "Got it. I'll stay down here with the other non-fighting Starbearers, ready to provide whatever support we can."

* * *

Racing up the steps to the entrance of the former Tower of the Way now turned Statue of the One King, Fret's team pushed open the doors and found themselves engulfed in a bright white light immediately upon entering.

"Wh-what is this?" asked Liu tentatively. Just then they heard the sound of a young girl giggling.

"Who's there?" Fret demanded with a touch of concern in his voice.

The light faded several moments later, revealing a young girl calling out for her dad. "Hurry up, Daddy!" she exclaimed.

A young boy joined in with the girl, who was continuing to laugh and giggle. "We're going to ride horsies today, right, Daddy? Horsies!"

An attractive woman who appeared to be in her late 20s or early 30s strode into the room. "Calm down, you two. Your father's not going anywhere today."

The Cherem Company party gasped when a much younger Valfred entered the room, laughing. "Ha ha ha! Okay, I give up! Let's go ride those horsies, shall we? I feel as if I'm a child again!" he exclaimed, still laughing joyfully.

"Oh, Valfred," the woman said lovingly. She was obviously his wife.

"Come on, Daddy!" the young girl excitedly said, tugging at his arm.

"Hurry!" exclaimed the boy. The two ran to leave the room.

Fret glanced at his friends. They all understood what they were witnessing, but it was still unexpected. Fret spoke up, more rhetorically than anything since he didn't expect Valfred was actually aware of their presence.

"Valfred… so this is your perpetual day, eh?"

After a few moments, Valfred turned towards the young intruders on his day. "Correct," he said. "One of the days I lost when the very first world was fused."

"You wanted this day back so badly that you called on the One King?" asked Erin.

"I'm not the only one," Valfred answered matter-of-factly. "The One King's world allows anyone to experience the best day of their life perpetually… for all eternity."

Marica shook her head sadly. "It's an illusion, chancellor, you have to see that. It can't last for eternity. People are trapped in their own minds, it can only last until their physical bodies die from neglecting its basic needs. You have to let this go."

"She's right," agreed Erin. "The One King hasn't given everyone a _perpetual_ best day, he's condemned them all to death. Help us defeat him."

The others looked at Erin in shock after she actually asked Valfred to help them. It didn't last long, however, because Valfred almost immediately responded angrily.

"What gives you the right to take away my happiness!" he yelled.

"Don't give us that tripe!" countered Fret. "What gives _you_ the right to destroy our futures? Besides, _my _perpetual day was more like a nightmare anyway."

Valfred gave an exasperated sigh. "It is unfortunate if retaining your memories took away from the enjoyment of your day, but the millions of other people don't have that problem. We seem destined to butt heads over this until the very end. But this day means _everything_ to me, and I won't allow you brats to take it away from me!"

Fret growled in frustration. "If you want to live in dreamland then you can have it! Just leave the rest of us out of it! We've had enough!" He was already unsheathing his swords and casting his new _Ire _mark of the stars when Valfred began to transform into a hideous 8 meter tall death beast version of himself.

* * *

Liu immediately threw up a _Magic Canopy_ mark to give the party better protection against the likely magic attacks coming. Jale activated his _Parting Shot_ mark, which gave him a much stronger physical attack at the expense of letting his opponent get their attack off first. Marica launched _Havoc Cyclone_, a powerful wind-based attack. The mini-tornado slammed into Death Valfred, rattling the beast but only doing a slight amount of damage.

Death Valfred roared before swinging his oversized beast king sword at Fret. The young Starbearer flipped forward over the incoming blade, bringing his own swords to bear in a counter across the sword arm of his enemy. Valfred howled while pulling his wounded arm back. Jale sped forward and launched himself into the air, punching and kicking before finishing his flurry off with a spinning backfist.

Fret didn't give the Order chancellor a chance to get set before activating his _Two-Way Thrust_ mark and charging forward. He executed a series of sweeps and slashes before doing another forward flip and slamming his blades down hard in a chopping attack. Fret grunted in pain from the recoil force of the attack as he retreated to his starting point.

Marica notched a pair of arrows and fired them into Death Valfred's chest, drawing his attention. Jale took advantage of the momentary distraction to scurry in and get off another attack unscathed, while Liu finished with a magic attack of his own from his topaz staff. Valfred appeared to still be going strong, but the team was confident they were making progress against him.

Valfred tried again to attack Fret, but the slow moving death beast didn't have any better success this time around. Fret easily evaded the incoming blow and countered with a spinning slash. "That all you got, kook?" Fret screamed at the retreating opponent. He activated _Two-Way Thrust_ again and launched himself back into the enemy without hesitation.

Marica cast another _Havoc Cyclone_ and Liu cast _Silence Sand_, which failed to inflict Valfred with silence but still scored decent damage. Valfred was beginning to show signs of fading, but threw a scorching magic attack that knocked both Fret and Jale back despite the reduced damage from the _Magic Canopy _protection. The boys groaned as they climbed back to their feet. Erin quickly sent healing at Fret, who had been additionally injured from his own _Two-Way Thrust_ attacks.

Valfred took advantage of the brief hesitation for healing and repeated his magic attack. The results were similar, leaving Jale in pretty bad shape since he hadn't been healed after the previous one. Liu threw _Healing Tide _at the same moment Marica cast _Healing Wave. _They shook their heads at each other, realizing the overlapping healing marks were pretty much a waste as either mark by itself would have done the job. Fret let loose a string of expletives at the Order chancellor before unloading his _Dying Wish_ mark. The light of the explosion around Death Valfred hadn't even dissipated before Fret was glowing from Erin's healing support. Marica immediately spun around and mouthed "_thank you_" to her friend, who nodded in acknowledgement.

The _Dying Wish_ mark left Valfred on death's door, and Jale finished him off with another _Parting Shot_ from his hell fists. As Death Valfred collapsed, he morphed back into his normal form. Panting for breath, he hissed at the Starbearers.

"You may have defeated me… but as long as the One King exists… my day… will…"

Before he could finish speaking, Valfred and the vision of his perpetual day faded from view, leaving the Cherem Company team standing alone in the lobby of the statue tower. Chrodechild's team was waiting behind them, the plan of following a minute behind hadn't really taken off yet. Liu turned back to them and indicated that they were going to step back outside to regroup and to heal up and recover their mana spent during the battle, then try again on making their way up through the statue. Jale went forward and claimed the beast king sword and death robes left behind by the fallen Order chancellor. He'd hand them off to Moana outside to hold on to.

* * *

Fret screamed in frustration after the battle ended, the effects of his _Ire_ mark not having fully worn off. "What do you mean this day was your everything? To have your _everything,_ you're trying to destroy everyone else's _anything_! And we'll never let that happen! We're coming for you next, One King!"

Jale put a steadying hand on his friend's shoulder, nodding at him in reassurance. He could already tell that the _Ire _mark was going to greatly increase Fret's damage output in battle, but make it harder than usual for him to keep his strong emotions under control. He'd need help from his friends whether or not he even realized it. "We're with you all the way, let's go get him."


	44. Reclaiming the Future part 2

After a brief respite, Fret's team was back at it. They didn't encounter any initial resistance this time and were able to make it up the stairs to the second floor. The hallway split in three directions at the top of the stairs, and naturally the direction the party took first resulted in a dead end. But rather than being a waste of time, they found a chest with a set of Ultimate Fists in it. Fret grinned as he handed them to Jale. "You're getting all kinds of hooked up with new gear on this trip," he said, winking.

They had a few skirmishes while searching for the next staircase up, and came across a weapon rack with a high end _Gungnir_ spear. It wasn't something any of them would use, but they took it anyway. Jale suggested they could give it to Logan later since he was a spear wielder. After backtracking they found the stairs to the third floor and ascended.

Another wrong turn netted them a _Goddess Breath_ staff, which Liu was happy to accept as an upgrade. When they got to the next staircase, they found a pair of Darkness Knights blocking the path. Fret activated _Ire_ as he yelled, "Attack!"

Liu threw a _Defense Canopy_ over the party, while Marica attacked with a _Spear Torrent_ that injured both enemies. The Darkness Knight on the right of the enemy line thrust his own _Gungnir_ spear at Jale, who sidestepped the piercing attack but got caught by the follow up bludgeoning blow. The sheer strength of the Darkness Knight knocked Jale down and left him grasping his left shoulder in pain. So rather than trying to retaliate with a physical attack, he used his _Bind Lightning_ mark to scorch the knight and fortunately paralyze him. Erin quickly healed Jale, and as he stretched his arm out afterwards, he was mostly satisfied with how it felt.

The second Darkness Knight sent a swirling magic attack over the party that initially didn't appear to do anything. Fret leapt forward and hammered the paralyzed Darkness Knight with a _Two-Way Thrust, _finishing him off. The effect of the previous knight's attack became apparent immediately after Fret retreated to his starting spot. He was eyeing the remaining Darkness Knight in front of him when suddenly a searing pain tore through his back. He heard Erin scream, and as he turned to look behind him he saw Marica reloading. He instantly realized she'd just shot him in the back with a pair of arrows, and the vacant look in her eyes as she released another one into his chest told him she didn't know who she was right now.

Fret was so focused on Marica that he never saw Liu raise his staff and fire a magic bolt at him. Jale realized it was happening too late, but as Fret dropped to his knees from the combined damage of Liu's and Marica's attacks, Jale dove at Liu and tackled him to the ground. He pummeled his friend partly in self-defense and partly trying to snap him out of his confusion. It didn't have the desired effect, but Jale at least left Liu momentarily dazed without injuring him badly.

The Darkness Knight thrust his spear forward at the defenseless leader, who still had his back to him. The tip of the spear ran through Fret's shoulder socket, poking out the front of his body before the knight ripped it back out. Fret was struggling to maintain consciousness, though it mattered little when he was laid out and unable to fight. Erin had the presence of mind to heal Fret, enabling him to agonizingly claw his way up on to his feet even though his right arm wasn't completely usable.

Fret had barely gotten back up when two more arrows from Marica slammed into his chest and dropped him again. Jale was caught in no man's land, not sure whether to try to incapacitate Marica or to go after the Darkness Knight. He opted for a _Bind Lightning_ attack on the knight, hoping to paralyze him and buy some time to deal with his confused party members. But he didn't get so lucky. The attack scored good damage but it didn't inflict the secondary effect of paralysis.

Seeing Liu slowly attempting to get back up, Erin made a tough decision. Using the support position behind the party to her advantage, she unclipped _Prominence_ from the padded harness slung over her shoulder. She then stepped forward and clubbed Marica over the head with it from behind, knocking her friend out without killing her. Erin turned just in time to get her mace up to block Liu's staff swinging at her. But the force of impact still knocked the inexperienced girl down.

Without thinking, Fret cast _Healing Tide_ to heal up. Even though he got himself and Jale back to full strength, he also healed his two still confused companions. Fortunately for Fret and Jale, Marica remained unconscious, but Liu was now back up and raising his staff to attack. And the Darkness Knight was getting ready to attack again as well.

"Jale! You stop Liu, I'll deal with the knight!" shouted Fret as he charged the Darkness Knight. Jale took a shot from Liu square in the chest and grimaced in pain, but plowed ahead anyway and tackled his friend again. He didn't want to hurt Liu, and made the decision to hold the physically weaker Liu pinned down while Fret dealt with the enemy.

"Erin!" shouted Jale, "Keep Fret healed while I keep Liu from attacking us!"

The Darkness Knight that Fret had gravely wounded with his last attack cast his confusion spell one more time. Fret's shoulders slumped when he turned and saw the vacant look now in Jale's eyes. Jale let Liu up and both boys prepared to attack Fret. Cursing, Fret sent a _Flame Vortex_ at the Darkness Knight just before Jale's flying kick connected with the back of his head. He rolled with the kick, but the martial artist was all over him, kicking him and punching him roughly. Fret groaned at his aching ribs and struggled to catch his breath with the wind knocked out of him. He looked up to see Liu beginning to cast _Silence Sand_ at him, and closed his eyes in resignation and waited for the inevitable.

"Fret!" he suddenly heard Jale yell. Chancing a glance he reopened his eyes. He saw his friends had gotten their senses back, and he felt additional healing from Erin wash over him. Apparently his _Flame Vortex_ had taken out the last Darkness Knight, dispelling the confusion curse in the process. He scrambled forward on his knees to where Marica lay, lifting her head into his lap and wincing slightly at the knot he felt from where Erin whacked her. Marica's eyes fluttered open, and she groaned.

Liu handed Fret a _mega medicine_, which he in turn helped Marica drink by propping her up against him and holding the container to her lips. She smiled gratefully.

"Wh-What happened?" she asked. The last thing I remember was fighting those Darkness Knights and then the world went black.

"Same here," said Liu.

"Wow, you guys really don't remember?" asked Fret in astonishment.

"Remember what?"

Erin and Fret filled the friends in on what happened, with everyone but Fret feeling somewhat embarrassed and apologizing for attacking their friends. As they stood up to make their way up the stairs, Erin saw Marica rubbing the swollen spot on the back of her head and asked her to forgive her for clubbing her over the head during the battle.

"Are you kidding me?" asked Marica incredulously.

"Wh-what?" replied Erin tentatively, not sure about Marica's reaction.

"Erin," she began, "You saved our lives back there. It sounds like you saved Fret's life more than once, and if you hadn't taken me out we'd probably all be dead right now. Don't apologize, you absolutely did the right thing."

"Still… I feel awful about whacking my best friend like that."

Marica laughed. "I can't say I envisioned myself being your first 'kill' so to speak."

Fret chimed in. "Yeah, come on, Erin, what's up with that? Marica only _threatened_ to kill _you_." He and the other boys chuckled, while Marica and Erin both blushed. Marica hugged Erin, assuring her that everything was fine, and the team moved on to the next floor.

* * *

Despite the joking around, Fret was fuming inside. He didn't know where the heck the reinforcements were, and wasn't at all happy that none of the other teams had been around to assist them in that last skirmish. He ordered his team to halt after they reached the next floor, wanting to see if any of the other teams would come up the stairs within a short period of time. He was just about to give up on that happening when the team of Geschutz, Minen, Buchse, Mourgent, and Yula came down the hall.

"Huh?" asked Fret, perplexed. "How'd you guys get up here already? We didn't see you pass us."

"There is more than one set of stairs in this place," replied Minen in her typical borderline condescending tone, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So other teams are already up at the higher levels?"

"Yes," answered Mourgent. "We have already been to the floor above this one, but had to descend a level when we ran into a dead end and then another staircase going down."

"This place is like a maze," added Yula. "Sometimes areas, like the one we came from upstairs, don't have staircases going up."

"Well, let's go this way then," said Fret, gesturing in the opposite direction from which the others arrived.

* * *

While making their way around in search of a staircase up, they came across the team of Chrodechild, Fredegund, Asad, Diadora, and Eunice after coming to a branch in the hallway and another couple of chests. Fret opened one to find an enchanted staff called a _Totem Pole_.

"You're about the only one here who is even remotely competent with a staff," Jale said to Fret.

"Nah, my staff wielding days are behind me. Hey, Eunice, why don't you take it? If nothing else, if you don't want to sell it for the potch you can always use it later to keep Dr. Zahra in line," Fret explained, winking. She laughed in response, but accepted the gift.

In the other chest was a set of the finest armor they'd ever seen. "_Star Armor_… wow…" whispered Fret in awe.

"I had only heard rumors of such armor," said Chrodechild. "It is the legendary, practically mythical armor of the ancient blademasters from the Empire of the North Star.

"Yes," agreed Yula, who herself was from the Empire of the North Star. "I have heard the legends of it, but never have actually seen a set of it."

Fret lifted the armor up and handed it to Chrodechild. "It'll make a fitting battle uniform for the queen of Astrasia."

She stared at him in astonishment. "You wish for me to have this? But what about you? Surely you are more deserving of it than I."

Chuckling, Fret shook his head. "You know I don't care about any of that stuff about who deserves what."

"But, still… "

"Chrodechild!" he said sternly, causing her to stop and look at him in surprise. "Me giving this armor to you rather than keeping it for myself is sincere, and I expect you to accept that as such!"

While the others were flabbergasted at what appeared to be Fret overreacting and scolding the princess for no reason, what they didn't know was that Fret was merely quoting her almost verbatim from a recent conversation between the two of them. That wasn't lost on Chrodechild, and the corners of her lips turned upwards into a grin.

"Touché, my friend," she replied, beginning to chuckle. "_Thank you," _she added, emphasizing the grinned back in response, and while the others didn't know what exactly transpired here, they could figure out enough to know it was some kind of inside joke between the two.

With everyone continuing on their way, Jale nonchalantly pulled Liu, Marica, and Erin aside while Fret was preoccupied talking to Chrodechild.

"Guys," he began, "If we come across more gear like that, I want you all to help me make sure Fret gets it."

"Why's that?" asked Liu.

Erin replied before Jale could. "Liu, if you haven't noticed, Fret takes care of everyone else but never does anything for himself. Look at the equipment he's got. I think the only reason he has that armor is because it didn't fit Jale, and his weapons were wedding gifts."

Marica nodded in agreement. "I'm with Jale, if we come across another set of high end armor or pair of swords that would work well for him, I'd like him to have them. Even if I do love the way he looks in that armor of his, he could definitely stand to upgrade at this point."

"Yeah, and all the arrow holes you put in it earlier sure didn't help either," Jale teased, smirking at her. She smirked right back at him in response. "You've got me there," she admitted.

* * *

After climbing a couple of more levels, the group saw a Tablet of Promise on the wall and a chest on the floor under it. Even as he approached the tablet, Fret knew exactly what it would look like.

"How come there's only one name on it? It's like the others were burned off or something?" asked Liu.

Diadora rested her hand on her temple as she thought. "Perhaps when a Starbearer dies their name is erased from the tablet?"

Marica already knew the answer, because Fret had told her what he saw in his nightmares about it. She took his arm and silently stood next to him with her head on his shoulder. His pensive expression and lack of response didn't go unnoticed by his friends.

"Fret?" asked Asad, "You look as if you know something about this."

Glancing at Asad, and then the tablet, and then the others, Fret nodded. "Yeah… it's because this group of Starbearers combined all the stars in a unite attack against the One King. It wiped them all out except the Tenkai Star, who became the next One King."

"Like in the vision you saw?" Chrodechild questioned. Fret had told them awhile back about the nightmare visions he experienced, leaving out the personal details on the advice of his friends.

"Yup…" he replied softly. Realizing he was starting to dwell on it again in his mind, he quickly forced those thoughts away and added, "Anyway, let's nab the loot and keep going. We've got to be getting close."

Flipping open the lid to the chest, Jale whistled in appreciation of the contents before taking them out and holding them up for viewing. "Sweet, dude! Check this out, a whole set of armor, cape, and gloves. Looks high quality."

"Makes sense," said Fredegund. "All the gear we have found in this tower has been premium quality."

Chrodechild nodded. "This appears to be almost as good as the _Star Armor_, with the enchantment on the cape it probably exceeds it. These are _Master's Gloves_, which are the best a blademaster could ever hope to obtain."

"Cool! So who wants them?" asked Fret.

"Dude, these are _yours_," remarked Jale before anyone else replied.

"Huh? Nah, I'm good with what I've got."

"Fret," said Liu, "This stuff is perfect for you, go on and keep it for yourself."

"It'd be just as perfect for Fredegund, Yula, or Mourgent," Fret countered, gesturing to the other blade warriors in their presence. "Or Chrodechild could take the cape and gloves and someone else could have the _Hero Armor_."

Marica made eye contact with Chrodechild, silently imploring her not to go along with that plan. She needn't have worried though, for Chrodechild had no intention of it. She stepped over and took the ensemble from Jale, who opened his mouth to protest before closing it when he saw Chrodechild turn and firmly shove the gear at Fret's chest, forcing him to accept it into his arms.

"You do not need to be selfless all the time," she explained with a smile. "This armor does suit you perfectly, and you have every right to the spoils of war."

"Sheesh, guys! You're acting like I've never kept loot for myself before. I do it all the time."

Marica looked him in the eyes. "Name the last weapon, armor, or accessory you've claimed for yourself."

"That's easy!" he exclaimed, but as he tried to think back he realized he didn't remember. It could very well have been the Magedom sword way back near the beginning of their adventure. He'd kept tons of expensive gemstones and exotic materials they'd collected along the way, amassing a personal fortune large enough to rival many kingdoms. But in hindsight he did pretty much always give the equipment away to other people. Seeing Marica's smirk that said she knew he wasn't coming up with an answer, he sighed and answered, "Fine…"

While most of his friends were grinning at each other as the group started moving again, Erin slid up next to Fret and began speaking softly to him. "Hey, please don't be grouchy about it, okay?"

He glanced over at her with a questioning expression before shrugging. "I'm not, just kinda at a loss as to why it's so important that I get something."

She smiled. "Think of it as us trying to show you just a tiny bit of the generosity you've shown us."

He fell silent as he contemplated that for a few moments, then chuckled softly and nodded. "Thanks, Erin."

* * *

The group reached the top floor after several more skirmishes with Rarohenga beasts, and finally met up with most of the other Cherem Company teams where several hallways converged and led down a single long hall to a room with a closed door at the end.

"If that doesn't have _boss battle_ written all over it then I don't know what does," said Jale sarcastically as he gestured with his thumb towards the door. His joke drew some light laughter, but a budding tension was beginning to swell through the ranks. Everyone knew the moment of truth was at hand.

"My team up front," Fret commanded. "Listen up everyone! If it's the same room we fought him in last time, it isn't that big. We won't be able to get more than one fighting team in there without tripping over each other. When we hit the door I want everyone with _Healing Tide_, _Revival Ray, _and _Cure Glow_ to trail us and be prepared to support us in the battle. Let's do this!"

* * *

Fret kicked in the door to the room at the end of the hallway and led his team in. They didn't immediately see the One King, instead a pillar of blue-green light shone at the far side of the circular room. It looked much like the pillars of light that had surrounded Cynas earlier. As the group stared at the light, the shadow of a figure became visible and moments later the One King emerged. Fret's stare turned into a glare.

"Ha! We found you!" he exclaimed.

The One King maintained the same air of indifference he had at the last encounter. In a detached but slightly smug tone he began to speak.

"As the One King, I shall fuse the Infinity into one world. The Infinity consists of… confusion… under the guise of _possibility_… and chaos… under the guise of _diversity_. An undetermined future leads to unlimited paths, which ultimately breeds chaos. One world is the answer to these problems. A beautiful, complete world… the absolute model of perfection and order… is how the Infinity must be."

"What a load of manure!" cried out Liu.

"No! I don't buy it!" Fret yelled. "The same thing over and over again ain't our idea of beauty and perfection! What kind of freak thinks they're so important that they can just take everyone's world, everyone's future throughout the entire Infinity… and roll it all up into their own personal playground?"

"We're putting a stop to your wild delusions, right here right now!" added Jale emphatically.

The One King continued to remain impassionate. "You are foolish souls. Listen well, Starbearers. The future has already been determined. There is no reason to fight any longer, it is meaningless."

Marica shrieked in rage. "_You _don't get to tell _us_ whether our fight has meaning or not!"

"That's right!" agreed Fret. "Already been determined? We'll never know unless we try!" His _Ire_ mark self-activated as he became enraged at the One King's incredulity.

Going on as if he hadn't heard the protests, the One King warned them, "Your actions are futile. As I am in possession of the True Chronicle, no one in this world can touch me."

"Yeah? Well, the old kook Valfred said the same thing and look how far that got him!" Fret taunted.

Liu raised his staff. "We have the 12 Chronicles from worlds you destroyed. 12 Chronicles against the True Chronicle. Which do you think will come out on top?"

"Only one way to find out!" shouted Fret. Closing his eyes, he reached out in front of him and began to glow. Concentric rings of light formed around him, whipping around in an increasing frenzy. To his team and the rest of the Starbearers who had squeezed themselves into the back of the room or bunched around the door to see what was happening, it was an awe inspiring sight.

The light burst in a bright flash, and as soon as it did Fret leapt forward, cross-drawing his dragon scale swords on the run. He didn't bother activating a mark of the stars yet, knowing from the past that enemies like this often started our nearly immune to attacks. In fact, he cynically expected that at this point, and didn't want to burn any mana right away if that was going to be the case here. But much to his pleasant surprise, his vicious assault on the One King appeared to actually take a decent chunk of health out of him. "He's vulnerable! Unload on him!" he half yelled half screeched to his team.

Marica let loose a _Havoc Cyclone_ in conjunction with Liu's powerful _Fuse Dome_. The combined attack rocked the One King. If he was injured, however, he didn't show it. The One King raised his staff, and from it burst a magic bolt that zoomed in and drilled Jale, knocking him from his feet. This sent everyone on the team into a fury to match Fret's.

"Ugh!" grunted Jale. "Packs quite a punch…" Without bothering to get up he tossed a _Bind Lightning_ attack, scorching the One King further. Moments later he was very grateful for the refreshing feeling of Erin's healing flowing over his skin. He hopped to his feet, ready to go.

The One King beat the Starbearers off the start for the next round, firing another starburst from his staff that targeted Fret. The Cherem Company leader tried to evade by backflipping away, but the attack found its mark. It caught him in mid-air and sent the young man sprawling into an awkward heap. Marica fired a pair of arrows in support of Jale, who sped in from the right flank to deliver a series of powerful blows. Fret had scrambled back up, and activating _Two-Way Thrust_ he threw himself full-force into his strike, welcoming the self-induced pain it would cause in exchange for the devastating damage.

"Liu! Get a _Defense Canopy_ up!" Fret shouted, slightly out of breath as he retreated to his starting point. Liu nodded even though Fret wasn't looking at him, casting the mark to improve the party's defense against the One King's ranged attacks.

Feeling the healing from Erin, Fret jumped right back in with another _Two-Way Thrust_. This time the One King visibly recoiled from the blow and appeared seriously hurt. He retaliated by blasting Jale again, cutting off his attack before it could get started. Liu cast _Healing Tide_ to get both Fret and Jale back to 100%, while Marica tossed another _Havoc Cyclone_. The One King bent forward slightly after her attack, he was clearly hurt badly.

Sensing they were close, Fret twirled his blades in a blur as he raced forward. Equal parts speed, precision, power, and grace, Fret swung and spun and swept and slashed, unloading over a dozen strikes in a furious flurry. He finished it off with a forward flip that he landed while simultaneously slashing outward and upward with his blades. It was a move he'd performed hundreds of times against thin air while practicing over the years, except this time the twin backhand slashes caught the weakened One King across the throat and dropped him.

Still under the effects of _Ire _combined with the adrenaline rush of battle, Fret pulsated with swirling emotions. "That all you got?" he screamed at the fallen One King. "You ain't so bad! You ain't so bad! You're nuthin'!" he taunted. "Get up so I can beat you back down again!"

The other Starbearers stood in shocked silence, trying to fathom the idea that it was all over. But before the shock could transform completely to joy, the One King weakly waved his staff and summoned a portal that he crawled through before he could be stopped.

"No way!" shouted Fret, tearing his arm free of Marica's hold, who'd come up behind him while he was ranting. "You're not getting away from us! We're coming after you, One King!" He dashed into the portal in hot pursuit.

Marica yelped in surprise. "E-everyone! Through the portal, now!" she cried out, darting in after Fret and the One King.

* * *

The other side of the portal revealed a grassy plain backdropped by a hazy yellowish gray sky. The Starbearers pouring out of the portal found Fret chewing on some _mixed herbs_ to recover his mana while glaring at the One King, who had transformed into a beast that was roughly 5 meters tall and was wielding a staff that was almost as tall.

Just then voice called out, "Just as I thought, this won't be an easy fight!"

"Hey! I know that voice!" exclaimed Fret. "Atrie, is that you?"

"Fret? I can hear you!"

"I can hear you too! What's going on?"

"I'm not sure," admitted Atrie. "We're fighting the One King right now!"

"You're fighting him too?" asked Fret in astonishment.

"Same here!" another voice called out, "We're fighting him too!"

Fret gasped. "Was that… Marica? The other Marica?"

"That's right!" she exclaimed. "We're in a face-off with the One King!"

"I can hear more voices too!" added Atrie. "They must be fighting him in other worlds too!"

Fret buzzed with excitement. "That's great! I guess we're not on our own here then!"

"Right! I bet the whole Infinity is fighting him!" replied the other Marica.

"To protect all of our futures!" Atrie yelled.

"Hey, Atrie! Marica! Let's mop the floor with this guy!" The two leaders of other worlds shouted in agreement, and the battle was on.

Fret invoked _Ire_, while Liu cast a _Defense Canopy_ and Jale activated _Parting Shot._ Marica quickly ate some _mixed herbs_ of her own to recover the mana she'd used in the previous battle. With more room to maneuver, Chrodechild and Fredegund stepped up to the front line to the right of Jale, and Asad and Diadora fell in line in the back row to the right of Liu, creating two lines of four. Taking their cue, other teams of Starbearers grouped together and surrounded the One King. In short order the might of half of Cherem Company was bearing down on their enemy.

For his part, this new form of the One King didn't seem any more concerned about his enemies than he had been previously. He raised his staff in the arm and called forth an attack that caused rocks to materialize and fly at the Starbearers. The crushing attack wounded over half of the fighters.

Jale leapt forward and unleashed a quick flurry in response. Chrodechild and Fredegund then activated their _Divine Edge_ unite attack, executing synchronized forward flips before slamming their blades down and causing magical energy to burst forth in a wave that slammed into the One King. Fret nodded at Marica, and they followed suit with their _Husband and Wife_ unite attack that carpet bombed the One King. The other Starbearers attacked or healed as they could with the battle quickly devolving into a free for all.

The One King raised his staff again, and this time rays of scorching light exploded out in all directions. A number of physically weaker Starbearers that had chanced not healing after the previous attack were wiped out by this one, and many more were gravely wounded.

"Revival rays!" screamed Fret, indicating he wanted healers to focus on getting people back up and going. "Revival rays, now! Everyone who can heal needs to do it!" Not wasting time, he threw back a _mega medicine_ himself to recover.

The battle was significantly harder than the first one, even with so many extra fighters on their side. They eventually wore down the One King and defeated him again, only to see him transform one more time into a giant beast that looked like a horned dragon.

"Here we go again!" exclaimed Fret with an exasperated sigh.

"We're not going to let him defeat us though! Don't give up!" Atrie cried out from the other world.

"That's right!" agreed the other Marica emphatically. "We may be in another world, but we're fighting together as one!"

"Alright, guys! The whole Infinity is counting on us! Let's do this!" yelled Fret.

* * *

Before everyone got back into position, the dragon beast One King summoned a dozen Hell Knights to fight alongside him. Fret's eyes darted back and forth across the battle field in an instant, formulating a plan.

"Chrodechild's team with mine against the One King! Everyone else deal with those Hell Knights! Keep them off us!" He reinvoked _Ire_ as he finished shouting, and twirled his blades rapidly as he waited for an opening to make his move.

The rest of the party went through its ministrations of getting ready for hopefully the last round against the One King. No one needed to say anything for them to all know that this version of the One King would be the hardest yet, so rather than attacking immediately, everyone was taking time to buff their offense, augment their defense, and recover from injuries or expended mana from the previous battle.

"Fret!" shouted Chrodechild, trying to make her voice heard above the din of battle. He glanced over and caught her resolute expression.

"We should split up and flank the enemy!" she continued. "I'll take my team around behind that monster!"

Fret nodded. "Avoid engaging the Hell Knights! We'll keep the One King occupied so you can slip in behind him!"

While Chrodechild navigated her team across the battlefield, maneuvering as to avoid being engaged by the Hell Knights, Fret led his team's initial assault. Activating _Two-Way Thrust_, he gathered himself and dashed forward to attack. Seeing that a couple of Hell Knights were hovering close to the One King beast, Marica cast a _Spear Torrent_ that crashed down in waves on the trio of enemies. The teams working on the knights were grateful for the indirect assistance her attack gave.

The head of the dragon beast One King dipped forward momentarily before tilting back. A jet black shadowy figure emerged from the chest of the monster, almost as if the shadowy humanoid and the dragon were symbiotic creatures joined to form a single being. Not that the Starbearers had any time to contemplate such mysteries. The shadowy figure roared, and a blue ray of light shot forth. It engulfed the party in an accelerating swirl that reached its crescendo and exploded.

The burst from the magical attack ripped through all five of the party members, even Erin back in her support position was caught in the blast. She didn't stand a chance, dropping immediately. Liu fell as well from the brutality of the attack, while Marica, Fret, and Jale barely survived. Jale and Marica both became enraged at the sight of Erin and Liu falling, joining Fret in being inflicted with battle fury.

"Marica! _Revival Ray_ on Liu first!" shouted Fret, knowing it was the tactically correct decision but hating to choose between friends. "Get to Erin as soon as you can!" He himself threw a _Healing Tide_ over the party to fully counter the effects of the One King's attack on the three of them still up.

While Marica raised Liu, Jale activated his _Fortify_ mark to boost his own defense against both magical and physical attacks.

"_Magic Canopy_, Liu!" screamed Fret as his revived friend got back to his feet.

The team braced itself for another attack, but the One King opted to bring up a defense barrier on himself while his enemies were scrambling.

Fret barked out more instructions to his team. "Liu! Your top priority is healing! Marica! Revival and healing first, keeping all our mana up second, attacking third! Jale! You're attacking unless you need to refortify! I'm attacking unless we need emergency healing!"

By this time, Chrodechild's group had gotten in behind the One King and launched their assault. Chrodechild and Fredegund both used their _True Falcon_ marks, while Asad used _Havoc Cyclone_ and Diadora threw _Gate to Nowhere_. No luck on instant killing the One King, but her primary magic attack was effective.

Fret and Chrodechild's groups worked together like a well-oiled machine. The dragon beast was constantly being attacked by whichever group was at its back, while the team he was facing focused on defense and healing. As the battle progressed, the Hell Knights fell one by one until only the One King beast remained. It was still an extremely dangerous situation though because every so often the One King would unleash that ray attack that could nearly wipe out entire groups at once. And even a fully healed Starbearer could hardly stand up against a single physical attack. Probably 3/4 of the Starbearers were on full-time reviving and healing duty.

Fret could tell they were getting close. The dragon beast One King's attacks were just as strong as from the start, but the frequency of them was dropping and it was increasingly buffing and healing itself. It was just a matter of getting over the hump. The One King had just unleashed his death ray on Chrodechild's group and was now taking a beating from the other Starbearers. Fret knew he only had a small window of opportunity before the beast would heal itself. Seizing the moment, he deftly sheathed his dragon scale swords and drew his knives, swiftly hurtling forward.

As he closed the gap between himself and the One King, time almost seemed to be slowing down. The cacophony of battle faded until all he could hear was the sound of his feet pounding the earth and his own labored breathing. A few feet from the enemy he took a deep breath and soared into the air. Spinning his blades into overhand grips, Fret slammed them down with all of his might into the back of the beast. The razor sharp blades embedded to the hilts, and Fret grunted as his own body crashed into the body of the One King with significant force. He hung on with all he had.

The One King roared in pain at the dual backstab, whipping from side to side trying to throw off his assailant. Fret bounced around like a rag doll, but managed to hang on. When the beast stopped turning long enough to attack another group, Fret ripped his right hand knife out of its back and swung himself up before plunging the knife back into its back about a foot higher. The action elicited more roars and thrashing from the dragon beast, but he hung on until the beast attacked again. This time, Fret retracted his left hand knife, and then used the blade he was still clinging to as a hand hold to pull himself up and re-bury the knife in his free hand back into the One King's back.

"What the hell is he doing?" screamed Marica.

"I-I think he is climbing that thing's back!" gasped Erin. It soon became apparent that was exactly what he was doing, as he alternated pulling one blade out and planting it a little higher up. Surely and steadily he progressed up towards the beast's head. He had the One King beast so distracted that while it was continuing to dish out attacks against the Starbearers, it wasn't healing itself.

So far, Fret had consistently predicted the beast's movement in order to time his own action. However, he finally miscalculated. Fret yanked the right hand blade out, and just as he went to stab it back in the One King twisted to the other side. The sudden movement caught him off guard, and instead of the knife penetrating the thick hide it glanced off. The off balance young leader dropped it in the process.

Swinging from the remaining blade with his left hand, Fret watched in dismay as his other knife bounced down the back of the dragon beast and landed harmlessly on the ground. The lone knife he was hanging precariously from was about 9 meters above the hardened earth below. In other words, it was a long drop if he lost his grip. He wasn't sure what exactly he was going to do now.

Marica's mind raced as she watched Fret struggling to hang on, trying to figure out how to help him. He needed his other knife back! It occurred to her that she had a pair of knives herself, she just needed to get one to him. Marica didn't have much practice throwing her knives, but it was desperation time and she needed to do _something_. Unsheathing one knife, she stepped forward and aimed for a spot just above Fret.

"_Please don't hit him,"_ she thought as she cocked her arm back and let fly. The knife tumbled through the air, whistling as it turned end over end before hitting and ricocheting off the One King's body. It had connected hilt first.

"Damn!" Marica swore in frustration. She pulled out her second knife and prepared to throw. Just before she did, she suddenly recalled the words Xebec had told Fret during their wedding day lesson on knife throwing. She took a few more steps forward and let fly again. This time the knife slammed home with a satisfying _thunk_, the blade firmly embedded in the One King's back a couple of feet above Fret's head.

Fret saw the knife hilt and his eyes glinted in excitement. The muscles in his arms and shoulders burned from the constant exertion, but he willed himself the strength to pull his body up and to reach up and grasp the hilt above him. He gasped as he latched on, for just then the dragon beast whipped around again. Fret maintained his grip, and seeing the One King beast readying its death ray, he took a deep breath and climbed the remaining couple of meters in a quick succession of thrusts. He was now right at the base of its neck.

The One King beast fired its death ray, then once again resumed trying to cast off his parasite. Fret's battered body bounced around even more but refused to let go. He knew he had to be causing problems for his own troops being able to attack without hitting him, but he had a plan that he was inching ever closer to executing. _"Come on, you bastard, get your death ray out one more time!"_

Fret didn't have to wait long before the tell-tale sign of the dragon beast's head dipping forward started. Grunting from the strain on his muscles, Fret swung himself up over the collar of the beast. As soon as the dragon's head tilted back and the shadowy figure emerged to fire the death ray, Fret swung the knife in his right hand with all of his remaining strength, plunging it into the shadow's throat. The shadow's roar turned into a fitful gargle as blood spurted. Fret ripped the blade sideways, tearing through its throat. The dragon beast violently shuddered from the action, and as it began to spasm Fret finally lost his grip.

Knowing he was going to fall, Fret kicked hard to push himself away in hopes that he wouldn't be trampled or crushed when the beast fell. As he fell from the lofty height, Fret twisted his body and threw his hands out, casting his _Dying Wish_ mark at the mortally wounded One King beast. He saw the explosion of light around the beast just before the world went dark.


	45. Aftermath

Fret found himself floating through space in some kind of dream world. With all of the bright white light he had a nagging suspicion that he'd just died, but before he began to panic it dawned on him that he was still consciously aware of everything. The light faded somewhat as he drifted gently to the ground. Looking around, he saw the One King back in his original form approaching.

"You…" whispered Fret tensely, frowning.

The One King waved his arm, but instead of attacking he was directing Fret's attention to the wall off to the side of them.

"The Tablet of… Promise…" noted Fret.

The One King nodded. "I have bound together the lives of the Stars. As with an Infinity of unlimited possibilities…" He paused as he stood in front of the Tablet of Promise and looked at it with an almost mournful expression. "The existence of numerous Stars, lighting the paths of all worlds… symbolizes an undetermined future. And I have combined them all into one."

"So it's… just as I thought… just as I saw in the visions… you…" Fret said softly, trailing off.

"The One King has neither past nor future… only conflict. A war against myself, a sacrifice of myself… yet at long last, you, with the Stars of the other worlds… have ended this monstrous cycle."

A glowing light appeared in front of Fret, who reached out his hand to touch it. When the light faded, the True Chronicle lay in his hands. "Th-the True Chronicle!" he gasped.

"It… belongs to you and the others…" the One King explained. "Thank you… son…" With that the One King faded from view and disappeared, and the Tablet of Promise with the lone Tenkai Star melted into nothingness. Fret stood speechless for a few moments in the silence of the now darkening room, when suddenly he began to hear a faint sound of many voices far off in the distance. It sounded like they were coming both from nowhere and everywhere. The din slowly grew into a dull roar, the sounds of tortured screams and cries, all the while the darkness in the former tablet room crept closer and closer in on him.

* * *

"Wh-why won't he w-wake up?" Marica cried, kneeling beside her husband and becoming borderline hysterical. She had cast _Revival Ray_ on him three times with no apparent effect. She'd demanded Sophia, Len-Lien, and Manaril all try theirs as well, but it made no difference. Now she was pleading with Zahra to do something.

"I do not know!" growled Zahra in frustration, not with Marica but with the situation. He may have had a poor bedside manner, but Zahra prided himself on his medical skills and despised not being able to save anyone. He was at a total loss as to why the young leader laying on the ground in front of him was in a coma-like state. He was breathing, but seemed completely unaware and unresponsive to outside stimuli.

Jale tugged on Marica's arm to pull her up from their fallen friend so the doctor could work, and she immediately collapsed in his arms, burying her head in his chest and sobbing. "He _c-can't_ be gone! He can't!"

Erin closed in behind Marica, wrapping her arms around so that they reached Jale, and the two formed a sort of cocoon around their friend.

Minutes more passed, and with each passing minute the triumphant mood of the post-battle celebration grew more somber as the Starbearers gathered around into an impromptu vigil for their leader. Suddenly Eunice cried out, "Doctor! He's stopped breathing!"

"Dammit!" Zahra growled. "You are _not_ going to die on me, kid!" He went quickly back to work on recovering a pulse.

Jale's and Erin's tears were flowing just as much as Marica's, but when a minute later Zahra reluctantly stood up and silently walked off by himself, tortured cries were raised throughout the Cherem Company ranks. They knew from his reaction and expression what happened, even if he refused to voice the words.

* * *

As the darkness closed in around Fret, the montage of numerous voices crying out continued to grow louder and seemingly closer. He reached out with his mind towards the sources of the sounds, somehow knowing where to look even though the noise seemed to come from everywhere. It grew increasingly closer, and the weightlessness of his body gave way to a dull ache that developed into a throbbing pain. His head began to pound, the pain intensifying as his mind gradually reconnected with his physical body. Suddenly he gasped, and his eyelids fluttered several times before remaining open.

* * *

When Zahra stood up and walked off, Marica wrestled out of the grip of her friends and collapsed at Fret's side, resting her forehead on his chest and continuing to sob. Her mind was a confused jumble, not being able to wrap itself around the idea that he was really gone. Then she heard the sharp gasp come from him, and at first was so shocked that she thought she imagined it. But then she felt the rapid shallow rise and fall of his chest as breathing returned, and when she looked up she thought her heart would burst from the joy of seeing his eyes open. Initially his eyes didn't appear to recognize where he was, but they soon regained focus and latched on to hers. A smile slowly crept over his face.

"We did it…" he whispered hoarsely.

This time the uproar he heard was joyous, as the Starbearers quickly became aware that he was back with them. It would only be later that he found out both the cries from earlier and the cheers now were for him. After a brief rest, Fret explained what happened to him, where right after delivering the killing blow he was taken into an alternate world where he met and had a conversation with the One King back in his original form. Fret was told that while that was going on with his brain checked out from his body, his real physical body was laying in this world in a coma state. And to everyone around him he appeared to have died, though in reality it was the process of his mind rejoining his body in the current world. Everyone was relieved, both to have him back and to have the closure of knowing the One King was gone for good.

* * *

"Hotupa? No dice, eh?" asked Fret.

Cherem Company had returned to Castle Starcache, and now Fret and Hotupa were in the gateway corridor along with Liu and Diadora. They'd discovered after they'd gotten back and Fret asked Hotupa to go check on Atrie's and Marica's worlds that the only place the castle gateway would take them now was to Pharamond and the buried mage city of El-Qaral, locations in this world. They were no longer able to connect to other worlds.

"No," replied Hotupa. "We're only able to connect the gateway to the locations in this world."

"That's it!" exclaimed Diadora, the answer just now occurring to her. "In a sense, our ability to travel from world to world via the gateway corridor was provided by the One King. As a side effect of his attempt to fuse the Infinity into One World, it was easy to connect to the corridor."

Liu gasped. "So that must mean…"

Diadora nodded. "Yes, now that we have defeated the One King, we can no longer join the corridor to other gateways."

"Oh, no…" lamented Hotupa.

"That'll make work more difficult for you and the other Wanderers I suppose, you'll no longer be able to travel to other worlds to obtain goods."

"Well, that is indeed troubling, but our business will survive."

"Now we'll never find out what happened with Atrie and Marica," said Liu sadly.

"We don't need to," replied Fret.

"Huh?"

"They won. Since we can't connect to other worlds, it must be proof that the One King is history, right?"

"Ummm… that logic is kinda sketchy, but you're probably right," agreed Liu.

Fret sighed. "I guess let's get back, we've got a ton of stuff to wrap up."

* * *

The ebony witch Zenoa gave him a skeptical look. "Are you sure it's okay?" she asked.

"Positive," replied Fret matter-of-factly. "You'll take it away where no one, and I mean _no one_, can ever get their hands on it, right?"

"Of course," she answered. After a brief consideration, she added, "You certainly are a strange one, you know that? I mean, who wouldn't want to keep the True Chronicle? You can gain knowledge of everything in this world with this," she explained, holding the book almost in wonder.

"Plain and simple, I don't need it anymore. And humans have no business wielding that kind of power. Besides, what fun would life be if you knew how everything was going to work out before you even tried?"

"Huh… maybe you are right," she answered before thinking to herself, _"Actually, I never expected such strong leadership out of you. Or for that matter for all 108 Stars to come to your side."_

Zenoa continued speaking. "Know that you will likely never see me again, Tenkai Star, but I shall carry out your wish to keep the True Chronicle safe."

Fret nodded. "Zenoa? I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but thanks again for everything."

"There you are!" called out a voice from the top of the stairs to the basement, where Fret and Zenoa had been talking in front of the Tablet of Promise. Fret turned his head to see Marica standing there with her hands on her hips, grinning. He smiled back at her, holding up his hand to indicate he'd be just a minute.

Zenoa smiled at Fret, with genuine warmth in her expression towards him for the first time ever. "Be well, Tenkai Star, may your future be as bright as the Stars." With that, she waved her hand and a soft yellow light began to glow around here. The glow increased in intensity, causing Fret and Marica both to shield their eyes briefly. The light suddenly vanished as quickly as it appeared, and when they looked again, Zenoa and the True Chronicle were gone. Fret glanced up at the Tablet of Promise, half expecting it to disappear as well since it had only appeared when Zenoa arrived anyway. But it remained, and he realized he was kind of glad it did.

Marica made her way down the stairs to Fret's side. He put his arm around her and they silently looked over the Tablet of Promise together, thinking about how much had transpired over the last almost two years. It was hard to believe it was over. That is, the war anyway. There was still a lot of work to be done.

* * *

At the top of the list of work to be done was the reconstruction and restoration of Cynas, which had been completely devastated. Chrodechild had already sworn Astrasia's support, and at Fret's suggestion had annexed Fort Arc for her kingdom, to be used as their base of operations for the reconstruction efforts and to provide a strong military presence to protect this region of the continent. She tabbed Fredegund to be the general of her armies, and Roberto to be the commander of Fort Arc. But to effectively do what she needed, Chrodechild's first order of business was going to be to return to Pharamond and formally assume the throne. Her assistant Guntram there was already making arrangements for her coronation.

Chrodechild also asked the Wanderers to assist in setting up Fort Arc as a regional trade hub. With its central location and numerous roads connecting it with so many towns and kingdoms, having a flourishing commercial sector at the fort would go a long ways towards revitalizing the region left economically strapped by the oppression of the Order of the One True Way. The Wanderers were excited by the possibilities, particularly in light of no longer being able to travel between worlds to do business as they were accustomed.

Kashgar pledged the Auster Folk support in the rebuilding Cynas as well, assigning Vaslof and Resno to oversee the operations. It also sounded like some of the individual Starbearers that didn't a definite home to return to or any particular place to go were going to help out. The former Order soldier Darrow and his soon-to-be wife Savina were especially excited about restoring Cynas to what it was many years ago, prior to the rise of the Order of the One True Way.

The status of Cherem Company itself was somewhat in limbo. Many of the groups that made up the company had longstanding plans to return to their homes after the war was over, and that would happen sooner rather than later for most. The Furious Roar were already preparing to depart for Cragbark, and the Porpos-kin would likely accompany them most of the way before parting ways and continuing on to the aquatic kingdom of Naineneis. The Ritterschild trio was almost certain to leave soon, and he imagined Tsaubern and Khemia would go with them. The Scribes would be anxious to get back to their Woodland Village in the Noslaw Woods. Shams, Manaril, and the others from Salsabil would be returning to their homes. Even the ones like Gilliam, Logan, and Lubberkin from Grayridge and Elder Rajim, Sisuca, and Yadima from Citro Village would be leaving for their respective homes sooner rather than later.

After a few long discussions and some soul searching, Fret and Marica had decided that there was no going back to Citro Village for them, at least not to live. To no one's objection, they claimed Castle Starcache as their own, though they welcomed anyone who wanted to continue to stay. After so much had transpired, it really did feel like home to them now. They were beyond set financially, but figured they'd still take job requests and adventure just for the fun of it. They both knew Fret would get restless if he didn't have anything to do. In addition to the normal flow of requests from the outside, he was already getting requests from Starbearers as well. Practically every time he saw her, Chrodechild offered him a new job. First it was commander of the Blades of Night's Veil, a position she'd need to relinquish after becoming queen. He declined, telling her that she needed to give that to Meruvis. Next time it was to serve as her personal advisor, to which he pointed out that she already had Asad for that. Eventually he told her jokingly that she didn't have to find him an official position to make him stay in contact. With the castle gateway to Pharamond still working it'd be easy for the Citro and Astrasian friends to stay close.

Fret and Marica asked Logan and Erin if they'd stay on as owners of the inn and tavern portion of the castle. Their idea was to open it up to travelers since the castle was a logical stopping place on journeys between towns in the region. And it wasn't like they'd be lacking for space or spare rooms anyway. Besides, Fret joked, he and Marica would probably die if they had to survive long-term on their own cooking. That earned him a punch in the shoulder from his wife and laughs from his friends. Logan said that he would see to it that the inn and tavern got up and going successfully, but his heart was with Grayridge and the inn he still owned there, and he felt like he needed to return home at some point.

Erin was torn between friends and family, and her decision was further complicated by her upcoming wedding. She already knew that Jale would be fine with them settling down in Grayridge, but she also knew he'd be happier if they stayed at the castle and continued to adventure with Fret and Marica. That appealed to her as well, but she also knew her dad had for years planned to turn over the Grayridge Inn to her when she was old enough. She didn't know what she was going to do still.

The other reason Fret wanted to keep the inn and tavern going was that while many Starbearers were going to be departing from Castle Starcache, a number of them either hadn't decided or were planning to staying around and keeping Cherem Company going as an adventuring company. There certainly hadn't been a lack of job requests made of the company since its formation. Fret liked the idea quite a bit, as having a lot of help would mean he could be pretty selective about which missions he and Marica personally went on. It'd give them a lot of flexibility to do whatever sounded good at the time – adventuring, going to visit family or friends, vacationing, or whatever else, without having to be tied down.

* * *

Much to Marica's chagrin, Fret recruited Rekareka's timid son Tuhululu to help with management of it all. She thought Fret was crazy, and told him as much, but he explained that the Wanderers were planning to leave and they'd need someone to replace Rekareka's position as the one that bought and sold trade goods for the company and coordinated with Logan in keeping the castle stocked up on supplies. They'd also need someone to take over for Moana in managing the adventuring business, such as receiving and posting job requests, coordinating available company members to work them, and ultimately collecting payment from the client and getting it to the troupe that did the job.

Marica was extremely skeptical of Tuhululu's ability to handle all of that, but Fret had talked to Rekareka and found out from her that Tuhululu had already been doing a lot of the work under her guidance. She was actually quite excited about the prospect of her son staying behind and continuing to work at the castle. And Fret thought that the kid might actually pull it together if put in a position where he was really being counted on and didn't have the safety net of mommy to fall back on. Or it might all end up being a complete failure anyway.

As Fret thought about how things were shaping up, he shook his head and chuckled softly to himself. The war may have ended with them saving the world, but with all of the possibilities available to them it didn't appear like life would be slowing down anytime soon. He didn't know what the future held in store for them, which after everything they'd been through was a _good_ thing. They wouldn't know how it would all turn out until they tried, and for the Tenkai Star of this world, that was a _great_ thing.

* * *

**AN: Well, this brings us at long last to the end of the game. I mentioned several chapters back that I had an idea for a short post-game story that I'd already written. I guess it's too long to be called an epilogue, but it isn't really a full length story either. Anyway, that's what the final three chapters to come are. **


	46. Uncovering the Past

Five mischievous teens stood before a brick wall, talking excitedly. "I really think there used to be a door here!" exclaimed one of the 15 year old boys, tracing the brick with his fingers as he spoke. "Here, you can practically see the outline of it."

His twin sister frowned at him. "Didn't you say you asked dad about it and he told you it was nothing?"

"Yeah, but he reacted kinda funny when I mentioned it. There's gotta be something to it. Come on, aren't you curious?"

"Maybe…" the lithe girl with long flowing white hair admitted, grinning sheepishly.

"What's your plan, Wyl?" asked Prince Asad. "Surely we cannot simply bash it down? Even if our parents did not hear it, someone else likely would."

Wyl rubbed his chin as he pondered the situation, a mannerism he'd long ago picked up from his father. "Logan, you're good at getting into places you're not supposed to. Think you can probe the wall for weaknesses?"

The sandy blonde boy's deep blue eyes sparkled with excitement at the challenge. He approached the wall, running his hands carefully over the stone bricks. A couple of minutes later, he spoke. "Here…" he said, pointing to a brick about chest high, "This one has some give to it. If we get it out, perhaps we can work enough out around it to at least see what's on the other side."

"Stand back," said Asad's younger sister, Princess Hildegard, impatiently. Her green eyes gleamed as she tossed her slightly longer than shoulder length auburn hair back and retreated a few steps, as if measuring the distance to the wall before launching herself forward. She uncoiled and leapt off her left leg, bringing her right leg up to her chest for balance as she gathered herself in the air. At the apex of her leap she torqued her body, pushing her right leg down while at the same time kicking out hard with her left. The force of impact sent the stone brick flying straight back. Wyl caught the slightly younger girl in his arms as she stumbled back, smiling sheepishly at her and causing her to blush from the physical proximity of the boy she had a not so secret crush on.

The teens heard the brick land with a loud _thud_ on the other side of the wall, a sound that repeated multiple times but fading in volume, like it was bounding further away. They all stared wide eyed at each other, nervously looking around to make sure no one was coming to investigate the noise.

"What do you think is on the other side?" asked Asad.

"My potch is on a stairwell from the way that brick bounced around," suggested Logan.

"Let's get more of these bricks out and see!" exclaimed Wyl, practically buzzing in anticipation.

The group moved quickly, wiggling and prying the bricks loose and stacking them quietly off to the side. Within a couple of minutes they had enough cleared to confirm there was a long stairwell on the other side. Within about 15 minutes they had cleared enough room for them all to climb through. Realizing the room was pitch black beyond the first several meters, Hildegard and Wyl's twin sister Bria discreetly obtained a couple of lanterns while the boys finished clearing an opening.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Wyl, holding up a lantern after all 5 of them had gotten through. "This room is _huge_!"

"The stairs go down a long ways," remarked Bria. "We should all stay close, we don't know what's down here."

"I wonder why this was sealed off in the first place?" asked Asad. "Do you think we'll find something bad if we down there?"

Wyl flashed a grin. "We'll never know until we try!"

His sister groaned. "I can't _stand it_ when he says that…"

* * *

"I know I already said this earlier, but it's great that you guys could come visit us!" said Erin, smiling at their guests. "We haven't seen you guys in ages! I guess being queen doesn't give you too many opportunities to just go off and enjoy yourself."

"Yes, it has been too long," agreed Chrodechild, smiling at her group of friends at the table. "You do not realize how long it has been until you see the kids, and how much they have grown since last time."

Asad nodded in agreement. "I am still in shock over Wyl. Fret, Marica, I swear when I saw him it was like seeing a ghost. The combination of seeing him and being back in this castle… well, a lot of memories came flooding back."

Chrodechild chuckled, placing her hand over her husband's. "I believe what he means to say is that Wyl's resemblance to Fret at that age is uncanny."

"And he's just as much of a troublemaker as his dad was," added Marica, sticking her tongue out at Fret, who cracked everyone up by feigning indignation.

"Be careful, he seems rather infatuated with your Hildegard," commented Jale, grinning slyly. "Though maybe she'll be the one to keep him in check, like the way his mom did with Fret." Everyone laughed.

"We _know_ Hildegard is quite taken by Wyl," replied Chrodechild, smiling warmly. "She talked about seeing him for days after we told her, Asad, and Erik that we were coming to visit you guys."

Asad chuckled. "She has many would be suitors, both from her station as a princess and from her beauty. But our daughter would do well indeed to land the son of Fret and Marica as her mate."

Fret and Marica both blushed, drawing more laughter. "Come on guys," said Marica, "You're embarrassing us."

"I have to say though," said Jale, "If young Asad is at all interested in Bria, he's going to have a fight on his hands with Logan."

Erin laughed knowingly. "Yeah, those two are practically inseparable. I'd be shocked if they aren't asking us about getting married in the next couple of years." Fret and Marica smiled, nodding in agreement.

"Well, we won't get greedy, we'll only take one of the clan," replied Asad, winking at Fret like they'd just decided that Wyl and Hildegard were a foregone conclusion. Chrodechild's mouth dropped open in shock at Asad. She smacked him on the arm playfully and everyone laughed.

"I wonder what they're all up to anyway?" Erin pondered. "They've been off running around the castle for awhile now."

"No doubt finding some mischief to get into," replied Marica. "I think the older kids went off one way and the younger kids went another. I told them all to be back for dinner though, so they should be back soon."

* * *

"What the heck is this?" asked Logan, pointing to a massive dust covered metal faced stone tablet that hung on the wall at the bottom of the long flight of stairs.

"It's huge!" exclaimed Asad in astonishment. "Let's find something to dust it off with!"

"There's a chest over here!" called out Bria. "Maybe there are some old clothes or something we can use as rags." She cracked open the chest, her eyes immediately drawn to a set of clothes that looked anything but old. "Whoa…" she said breathlessly.

"Whatcha got there, Bria?" asked Wyl, coming up behind her.

"Check this out…" she said, taking from the chest a neatly folded and stacked set of light armor with a matching cape and a small jeweled circlet. The others gathered around.

Logan whistled appreciatively. "Wow… that armor looks sharp. I wonder who it belonged to, why it's down here?"

"You want it Logan?" asked Bria, smiling slightly seductively. "I bet you'd look hot in it."

Logan laughed, taking the armor from her. "Hmmm…" he mumbled while checking it out. "Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it would fit me very well. I bet it'd fit Wyl just about perfectly though." He handed it over to Wyl. "Go ahead and try it on, man."

"What? Like take my clothes off and change right here?"

"Dude, who cares?" asked Logan. "It's not like you're gonna get naked or anything. And I don't think Hildegard is gonna object to getting a little preview."

Hildegard blushed furiously, turning away. "I-I'll g-go look over there for something to wipe that thing on the wall off with." Logan cackled at her embarrassment, while Bria punched him in the arm for being rude. Asad rolled his eyes at the exchange.

Wyl changed quickly while the others were in other parts of the room. As he finished and turned back around, he heard Hildegard say, "Hey! I found some rags and polish in this box over here. Looks like the stuff that was probably used to polish the tablet however long-" She was walking over with a huge smile on her face while talking, but as soon as she saw Wyl her mouth dropped open in shock and she stopped in mid-sentence.

"What's wrong?" asked Bria, coming back over herself when she heard Hildegard say she found something to clean the tablet off with. When the other girl didn't respond, Bria followed the direction her eyes were staring until they came to rest on her twin brother.

"Ohhh… wow…" breathed Bria. It was hard to believe it was her brother standing there. Hildegard still stood mesmerized, her stare transfixed on him.

Wyl flashed a grin before whipping the cape around in dramatic fashion. "Pretty cool, eh?"

Asad and Logan looked at each other and chuckled. "I do believe you have left my sister speechless, Wyl," said Asad.

"No kidding, it's like, who is this guy?" joked Bria.

"Th-there's a large portrait in the royal palace of your dad fighting in very similar looking armor," said Hildegard softly. "You… you look just like him in that picture."

Wyl blushed slightly. "Come on guys…" Trying to take the attention off of himself, he added, "Let's get this tablet cleaned up and see what it says."

The others nodded. Taking rags from Hildegard they all got started. Working together, they had the thick layer of dust cleared in a few minutes, and the tablet polished enough to read the text on it.

"It's like a list of names, matched with names of stars of some kind," suggested Asad.

"I wonder what it was for?" asked Bria.

Hildegard gasped. "There's mom's name! And there's Aunt Fredegund! And there's dad!"

Bria's eyes widened as she experienced surprise of her own. "And there's our dad! And Logan, there's your dad!" Her eyes rapidly scanned the tablet for more name. "There's mom! And your mom! And your name is on there too, Logan!"

Wyl read the words out loud that they were all seeing. "Tenkai Star – Fret. Tenei Star – Marica. Tenhei Star – Chrodechild. Chimou Star – Asad. Tentai Star – Jale. Chiin Star – Erin. Tenson Star – Fredegund. Chisu Star – Logan. Sorry to burst your bubble, Logan, but I'd bet the 'Logan' here is your grandpa."

"Oh, Logan, and there's your grandma…" added Bria. "Tenkyu Star – Selen."

Hildegard shook her head in disbelief. "I recognize some other names too… names of leaders of Astrasia's elite forces."

"Whoa… Tenjyu Star – Rajim. Chiyou Star – Sisuca. Practically our entire families are on this!" exclaimed Wyl.

"It says 'Tablet of Promise' at the top," observed Asad. "I wonder what that means?"

Logan shrugged. "Well, we're not likely to figure it out on our own. I say we go back upstairs and ask our parents about it. They're probably wondering where we are by now anyway."

"You don't think they'll kill us for sneaking down here?" asked Hildegard.

"Maybe, but I'm curious enough as to what this all is to take my chances with mom and dad," answered Wyl, grinning.

The others nodded in agreement. Going over to retrieve the clothes he'd originally worn down to the basement, Wyl spied something else in the chest. "Hey guys, check out these books that were in the bottom of the chest with the armor…" He held them out to the others and each took a book.

"This is weird," said Bria. "Mine's full of blank pages, there's nothing in it."

"Same here…" replied Hildegard.

"Likewise…" added Asad.

"Yup, just blank pages," agreed Logan.

Wyl sighed, perplexed by the books. "Yeah… I wonder why there were a bunch of empty books in the chest? They've all got different covers, like they're supposed to be different books. Maybe they're really old and the writing faded?"

"Let's take them with us and ask about them too," suggested Hildegard.


	47. History Lessons

Chrodechild smiled. "Speaking of dinner, Erin, how has the inn and tavern business gone for you guys?"

"Well, Jale and I have been blessed with a great staff, so it definitely isn't like the old days where it was mostly me and my dad that did everything. We mostly just oversee things here nowadays. It gives us time to go adventuring with Fret and Marica, visit family, and so on."

"So you guys are still adventuring?"

"Not as much as in the old days," replied Fret, "But yeah. We've got more potch than we could ever spend, but you know me… I like to help people, and I can't sit still for too long without going crazy."

"So adventuring scratches that itch, and it's easy enough since the jobs come to us," added Marica.

"It's good training for the kids, too," said Jale. "The older three go on some missions by themselves. Though not anything nearly as intense as what we were doing at their age."

Fret nodded solemnly. "Hopefully they'll never have to go through what we did."

"You mentioned family earlier. How is old Logan doing by the way?" asked Asad. "Is he still in Grayridge?"

Erin nodded. "Yeah, he moved back to Grayridge a few years after Cherem Company saved the world and all. He still owned the inn there the whole time, and decided it was time for him to go back home. So he left this place to us. Dad is slowing down some in his old age, but with all the potch we made back then he was also able to hire a larger staff and not have to do much of the physical work himself."

"With Grayridge being so close, we still see him quite a bit. He can't get enough of seeing his little namesake," added Jale, referring to their son that they'd named after Erin's dad. "And of course the girls too. I think he hopes either Mari or Shayla will follow in Erin's footsteps and take over his inn when he's finally ready to retire."

"Shayla is the most likely one, but he'll have to wait a few years since she's only 9," smiled Erin. "Then again, Mari is 11, and when I was her age I was already working full-time at the inn."

Asad nodded. "What of Rajim and Sisuca? Are they still doing well in Citro Village?"

"Sure, they love the boring old Citro life," smirked Marica. "We go down there about once a season though to see them. We enjoy visiting Citro, but couldn't imagine actually living there again, at least not unless we were really old and ready to retire."

"Well," began Chrodechild in a more serious tone, her eyes shifting among everyone at the table. "With the gateway between here and Pharamond, we're even closer than Grayridge or Citro Village. Why has it been more than a year since you have visited us?"

Marica gulped. She could hear the hurt in Chrodechild's voice, even if the others hadn't. She didn't know what to say. Fortunately she didn't have to, because Fret spoke up.

"I guess… I guess we thought that you guys were so busy with running Astrasia that it was best if we didn't bug you all much. I mean, when we've gone to see you in the past it always seemed like you had so many different people pulling at you, needing your attention. And most everyone else had kinda moved on and fallen out of contact with us within a couple of years after the battle with the One King… so… I guess maybe part of it is we didn't want to be an added burden on your time, and part that we thought that you guys might rather forget about that time in your life too."

Chrodechild frowned. "Did we ever do anything to make you feel unwelcome, or that we did not wish you to spend time with us?"

"No, but-"

Marica raised her hand, cutting Fret off. "Chrodechild, Asad… we're sorry, we didn't know. We thought we were doing you guys a favor staying out of your hair, but obviously that wasn't the case. Forgive us?"

"On one condition," replied Asad. The others looked at him expectantly. "In the future, do not be strangers, okay?" He broke into a wide smile.

Chrodechild nodded. "I am relieved that it was only a misunderstanding. Truthfully, while we do have good friends in Pharamond, there is a lot to be said for friends who could not care less about the formality of titles and high society. Both Asad and I had hoped that after what we all went through together, the bonds of friendship would hold strong. We… I was somewhat worried that we had fallen out of favor with you."

"No worries about that, guys. It'll be like the old days, we'll make you sick of seeing us!" laughed Fret.

"I don't know about _that_," replied Erin, "but yeah… we love you guys, it'll be great to see you more often!"

"Mom! Dad!" shouted Bria breathlessly as she ran into the tavern, interrupting the conversation the grownups were having at the table.

Fret jumped up. "What's wrong?" he asked worriedly. "Where are the others?"

"Oh, they'll be here in a minute, I just run faster than any of them. Anyway, you won't believe the cool stuff we found!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Marica. Just then, Logan entered the tavern, with Hildegard and Asad trailing close behind. All of the adults' eyes grew wide at the sight of the contents in their arms.

"We found these weird books and… wait, you guys look like you know what these are."

"Did you open them?" Fret demanded. "What did you kids see in them?"

"Whoa… dad, why are you so freaked out?"

"Answer the question, Bria! _What_ did you see when you looked in them?"

"N-nothing," Bria whispered quietly, suddenly on the verge of tears at her dad's reaction and the expressions of the other grownups. "Th-the p-pages were all blank."

"Th-that's right, sir," added Asad. "All the books were full of blank pages. We… we thought you might know what they-"

All of the adults in the room suddenly gasped in collective shock, even more blindsided by the new sight before them. Time suddenly seemed to pass in slow motion. Walking through the door after having detoured by his room to drop off his old clothes was Wyl, who unbeknownst to any of the kids was wearing his dad's old sky blue armor. The same sky blue armor Fret proposed to and married Marica in. The same sky blue armor Fret saved the world in. The same sky blue armor that Fret's biological father had attempted to save his world in before tragically turning into the One King himself. Wyl's 'hey, check out how cool I look' grin was wiped clean by the reaction he got.

Fret slumped back into his chair, dumbfounded. Marica felt herself tearing up at the sight of her son, memories flooding back. Wyl couldn't have looked more like Fret at age 15 if he actually was Fret. "Asad," began Fret hoarsely. "I think we all see what you meant earlier about looking at a ghost." Marica gripped his arm tightly.

Logan just remembered something. "Do your reactions have something to do with that 'Tablet of Promise' in the basement that has all of your names on it?"

Erin stood up from the table. "I'm going to put a fresh pot of coffee on. I have a feeling we're going to have a _very_ late night. Logan, go find your sisters and Erik."

* * *

Long into the night 8 children of heroes were completely captivated by the tale their parents took turns telling. A tale of adventure, romance, tears and laughter, and all emotions in between. A tale of four nobodies from a nowhere village few even knew existed, who one day went out on a seemingly innocent laggart hunt and ended up going to war against the most powerful military force in the world. A tale of kingdoms lost and reclaimed, alliances forged, broken, and made anew. A tale of friends old and new, of betrayal and redemption, of a teenage boy bringing together humans and non-humans alike, royalty and commoners alike, gathering Chronicles and 108 Starbearers to form the strongest fighting force their world had ever known. A tale of how the other 107 were so loyal to him that they were willing to lay down their lives for him to win the final battle, but that no matter how dire the circumstances, this Tenkai Star refused to stop protecting his friends. A tale of saving three worlds simultaneously, of ending the threat to the entire Infinity in the process. A tale of perseverance against all odds because no one could say what the future held until it actually happened.

* * *

It was the wee hours of the following morning when the tale ended. Not even the youngest of the children had fallen asleep during the spellbinding story. The grownups all smiled knowingly at each other, by the time the story was done Wyl and Hildegard sat together holding hands, her head resting dreamily on his shoulder. And Bria lay across Logan's lap, her head on his chest while he quietly stroked her hair. Fresh tears were spilled, smiles and laughter were shared by adults reliving 16-17 year old events. Children cheered and jeered throughout, living the good and the bad of the war with the Order of the One True Way and the One King through the vivid first hand recollections of their parents.

"So, kids," said Jale. "That's the story of us saving the world. If things had gone differently here or there, some or all of you never would've been born."

"But I guess you kept going, and we are here, because you never knew how things would turn out until you tried?" asked Wyl.

"_That's_ my boy!" exclaimed Fret, drawing raucous laughter from everyone.

Logan cleared his throat. "What I don't understand is, why did you seal all this stuff away in the basement? And why hadn't you guys ever told us this story before? I mean, we've heard about Cherem Company and the Order of the One True Way, mostly from what other people have said in our adventures. But you never told us about the One King and Starbearers and saving the Infinity. This is the most amazing thing I've ever heard."

"Yeah!" agreed Bria, "No wonder everyone loves you guys everywhere we go!"

Fret's eyes appeared distant for a moment. Marica knew exactly where he had gone, and squeezed his arm in reassurance. Jale and Erin also saw his expression change. Glancing at each other, Erin's eyes told Jale that he needed to help his friend out here.

"Guys…" began Jale, contemplating his words. "Sealing off the basement was never about hiding our pasts from you all, or anyone else. You know those empty books that you brought up here?" The five teens nodded. "Those are the Chronicles that didn't belong to a particular group of people, they were left with Cherem Company after the war."

"_Th-these_ are the Chronicles you talked about in the story?" asked Wyl in astonishment.

The adults all nodded solemnly. Jale pointed to the stack of books on the table, naming them in turn – _Boundless Amber_… _Peaceful End_… _Resonant Horror_… _Noble Steel_… and the one that started it all, _Shining Legacy_."

"Wow…" breathed Mari, giving voice to the amazement all the kids felt. She tentatively picked up _Boundless Amber_ off the top and opened it, running her fingers over the blank pages in awe.

"So the pages are blank to us because we are not Starbearers?" asked the younger Asad.

"That's right," answered Marica. "As Starbearers, all of us adults here not only saw visions when we came in contact with the Chronicles, we also received very powerful supernatural powers."

"The marks of the stars…" added Erin softly.

Logan looked thoughtful. "What happened to the other Chronicles? You said Cherem Company had 12 of them in all?"

Asad answered. "If you remember, the Chronicles came to this world when other worlds were fused with this one. So not every group that joined up with Cherem Company was originally from this world, and after the war they took the Chronicle of their world with them. And not every Chronicle was in the form of a book. For example, the _Furious Roar _Chronicle was in a form they called the 'wraith soul'. The Porpos-kin Chronicle _Cerulean Flux_ looked like a simple bead necklace. _Endless Travels_ was a mage staff. Chrodechild's twin blades _Flame _and _Flash_ are actually Astrasia's own _Divine Edge_ Chronicle. The Scribes' _Tatau Council_ Chronicle is represented by the tattoos worn by the Elder Scribe. And so on…" The others nodded.

"W-w-wait!" exclaimed Hildegard, catching on and sitting up straight. The others looked over at her, unsure of why she reacted the way she did. "If mom has a Chronicle, th-that means Astrasia wasn't originally part of this world?"

Chrodechild smiled in pride at how sharp her daughter was. Even with as much history as the children had been taught, they'd never learned of the Chronicles. "You are right, dear, Astrasia was part of yet another world in the Infinity that had been conquered by the One King and later fused to this world."

"And then there's the most powerful Chronicle of all, the _True Chronicle_ from this world," added Fret softly. "I sent it away with Zenoa when she left. She promised to keep it safe, where no one could ever use it again like the Order had."

It suddenly made sense to Wyl. "That's why you sealed the remaining Chronicles in the basement then? To protect them from being found and used for harm?"

Fret and the other adults nodded. "There is a bit more to it than that," explained Marica. "It was also to protect the Starbearers."

The elder Asad shook his head. "Fret, Marica, This evening has me wondering something. If I may ask, how is it that your children know so little of your past? I suspect that our children know more about Lord Fret and Lady Marica than your own children do. Many of the personal stories from earlier were new, but the basic tale of the war with the Order and the One King and all of our exploits was very familiar to Asad, Hildegard, and Erik."

Hildegard nodded. "Every child of Astrasia learns of the war and Cherem Company saving our kingdom and the world in school. We learn of the major battles and events, and the people and places."

Marica blushed while Fret glanced down, averting eye contact. "Good grief, what slacker had time to write all that down while it was going on?" muttered Fret under his breath.

"Your buddy, 'Scholar Guy', of course," replied Asad, grinning at his uncomfortable friend. "We commissioned a written history from Mubal not long after the war was over."

Jale chuckled. "Asad, you guys know Fret, he's never been one to take credit for anything, let alone brag about himself. Marica is not much different in that regard."

"This all makes sense about the Chronicles," admitted Wyl, steering the conversation back on track. "But dad… what made you decide to lock away your armor?" Asad and Chrodechild glanced at each other. They were both curious as well, they knew he started wearing the hero armor after the war but hadn't known that Fret sealed his sky blue armor away with the Chronicles.

Fret took a deep breath, thinking of how to best explain it, not to mention how to best answer Asad's question about not telling their kids much about the war. Marica reached over gently pulled his chin, turning his head to face her. "Fret?" she asked, "Do you mind if I read to everyone the journal you wrote back then?" He looked into his wife's loving eyes, at first his own eyes filled with apprehension. "I think it will explain a lot," she added gently. The depth of love he saw in her eyes filled him with reassurance, and she saw his apprehension give over to acquiescence. "It's okay…" he whispered softly.

Marica had another idea. She whispered something into Fret's ear, and his eyes lit up in excitement. "Oooh, you think we should give them to him?" She nodded. Fret's face scrunched up in concentration for a moment, then he leaned in and whispered in Marica's ear. She smiled, and only gave a cryptic response of "definitely!" that no one but the two of them understood.

Fret lifted her off his lap and stood. "Everyone wait here!" he exclaimed excitedly and took off upstairs, leaving everyone but Marica confused.

Chrodechild grinned. "What have you gotten him up to? You just turned him from depressed back into 16 year old Fret!"

Marica laughed. "I don't want to spoil the surprise, he'll be right back. All I'll say is that Wyl is probably going to even look more like a ghost than he already does."

* * *

A few minutes later, Fret arrived with a bundle wrapped in a blanket. Setting it down on the table, he said, "Since we've been doing history lessons and all... Chrodechild, I apologize in advance that I haven't used these since you and Fredegund gave me the dragon scale swords as a wedding gift, but I had old Gadburg sharpen and put a high shine on these babies before I put them away." She smiled, already knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"So, Wyl, what do you typically wield as far as weapons go?" she asked.

Wyl shrugged. "Mom and dad have trained me and Bria in both ranged and melee weapons, but I suppose if I had a preference it would be for my longsword."

She nodded noncommittally. "Do you go with or without a shield? Single or dual wield?"

"I'm not much for shields because they slow me down. Dad gave me a pair of treasured swords, but I mainly single wield just because I'm not very good at dual wielding yet."

"Embarrassing, I know," said Fret as he grinned at Chrodechild, causing her to chuckle and Wyl to blush. "To be fair, he's pretty strong single wielding though."

"Wyl," began Chrodechild, "If my suspicions are correct, it sounds like your mother had a great idea." Looking to Fret and Marica, she pointed to the blanket and asked, "Has he ever seen these?"

"Not unsheathed," replied Fret. "Wyl, your mom pointed out to me that you're missing a key piece of the ensemble there." Lifting the top of the blanket off, he revealed a pair of longswords with matte black hilts resting in flat black scabbards. "Do you know what these are?"

"They look like uhh, longswords?" answered Wyl.

"Hildegard, would you like to explain to Wyl what these are?" asked Marica, not at all minding encouraging the relationship between their son and the Astrasian princess.

The young girl smiled proudly. "Yes, ma'am. These are black blades, legendary swords of the Blades of Night's Veil, the elite forces of Astrasia. And I think your mom and dad mean to give them to you."

Wyl's eyes grew wide in amazement. "Oh, wow… these are the black blades?" He picked one up off the table, handling it with awe. He was even more awestruck as he unsheathed it and saw the menacing razor sharp black blade polished to a high gloss finish.

"Not just _any_ black blades, Wyl," explained Fret. "The one you have in your hand originally belonged to Roberto, one of Astrasia's strongest knights."

"The same Roberto that is commander of the Blade's of Night's Veil?" asked the younger Asad.

Fret raised an eyebrow quizzically, looking at Chrodechild and the older Asad. "Roberto replaced Meruvis as commander?"

She nodded. "Yes, the same Roberto. Meruvis' heart was always more in training and teaching than commanding the forces. When he felt that Roberto had achieved the necessary maturity in mind, body, and spirit, he consulted with me and we elevated Roberto to commander. Meruvis is very much enjoying life as the director of the Royal Academy in Pharamond and its head instructor in Swordsmanship."

"Wow… guess Roberto really grew up! Anyway, Wyl, I won that black blade in a duel with Roberto after your mom put herself up as my side of the wager." He hurriedly added, "Long story, _don't_ ask right now," drawing laughter from the adults and confused looks from the kids. "_Anyway_," he added, drawing the second blade with dramatic flair, "_this _black blade belonged to another commander of the Blades of Night's Veil and was a gift to me. It was the personal blade of… _Princess_ Chrodechild herself. Between her and me, I can't tell you how many battles this blade has seen."

Wyl was dumbstruck. "You're giving these to me, to keep? I-I don't know what to say!"

Marica smirked. "Well, _thank you_ comes to mind."

"Oh, sorry, of course… thanks! Wow…"

"Hey, Fret?" asked Chrodechild, hers eyes gleaming. "Any chance you still remember that dual weapon kata you performed right after I gave you my blade?"

"The bigger question might be if he could still pull it off," joked Marica, winking at him. Truthfully she knew he hadn't lost hardly any of his grace, but the challenge would prompt him to show off a bit and cheer him up from earlier.

Fret scoffed playfully, winking back. "Alright, alright, I get the hint." Reaching out his hand, he nodded at Wyl, who wordlessly handed the other sword to his dad.

* * *

Fret walked over to the open part of the room, away from tables and other obstacles. He did some brief stretching.

"Booo!" shouted Jale. "That's lame! What do you call that kata anyway, Ode to Retirement Home?" Everyone laughed.

"How about I'm old and if I rip into this like I did when I was 16 I'm liable to pull something! And I guarantee Marica doesn't want to hear me whine for the next few days about being hurt from showing off."

"You got that right!" she exclaimed, giggling.

Fret closed his eyes and took a deep breath, twirling the twin blades slowly in his hands as he visualized his movements and refamiliarized himself with the unique feel of the black blades. Gradually he sped up the blades in his hands until they were nothing but a motion blur, while his body and face were pictures of perfect calm. Most of the kids were impressed enough by this simple action, but then the real show started as Fret launched himself into the kata, spinning and twirling and slashing and striking in his graceful dance of death. His own body joined the movement of the blades in the motion blur until he culminated in a leaping front flip that he landed while slashing outward and upward simultaneously with both blades, holding the final pose in dramatic fashion before standing fully upright and smiling broadly. The children all erupted in applause, hooting and hollering.

"Not bad for 3:00 in the morning, old man," teased Chrodechild.

Wyl and Bria both gulped. They'd heard stories of their dad's prowess of course, but even having fought alongside him from time to time in the course of their adventures they'd never seen him move like that.

"D-dad, that was incredible!" exclaimed Bria. "You've got to teach me that!"

"Me too!" came from Wyl right after that.

Fret laughed, still slightly winded from his display. "Chrodechild, would you be open to having Wyl spend some time training in Pharamond?"

"Hmmm… I do not know…" she replied, smiling mischievously.

Erin grinned. "What do you think Hildegard, think you'd be okay having Wyl around all the time?"

"Wh-what? Yes!" she exclaimed, immediately blushing furiously as she realized her action gave away her feelings in front of everyone. Wyl joined her in blushing when the older kids and adults started laughing at their expense. Logan punched his friend on the arm playfully.

Fret put his hand on his daughter's shoulder, standing behind and to the side of her. Nodding to Marica, he said, "Bria, we also have something for you." Marica pulled back the second fold of the blanket to reveal a second pair of matte black hilts sheathed in jet black scabbards. Only these were significantly shorter than the black blades given to Wyl.

"Oh, I have one of those!" exclaimed 10 year old Erik at the sight.

"Perhaps then you should explain what they are, son," smiled Asad.

"Sure, dad!" He picked one up and unsheathed it. "These are a couple of the combat knives issued to every member of the Royal Army. Even the Blades of Night's Veil carries them for backup."

Chrodechild smiled again, taking up the other knife in her hand. After looking at the base of the blade, she set it back down and took the other knife from Erik. Confirming what she was looking for, she glanced back up. "Bria, these knives may be standard issue for our military now, but they were _invented_ by your mother."

Marica looked slightly embarrassed. "To be fair, I only drew out and described what I wanted. Gadburg did all the work of actually making them."

"Do not be modest, Marica. It was your idea, not only the design of the weapon but also the fundamental reason to carry them." She explained, "After the war with the One King we initially had the knives made and issued to all of our archers and mages, but the results were so good that we eventually made these combat knives standard issue for the entire military." Marica knew this already and understood that Chrodechild was giving a history lesson for the children, but it still left her slightly in awe to think about.

Chrodechild handed the knife in her hand to Bria, hilt first. "There is another thing about these particular knives that make them special. Bria, our master smith Gadburg stamps every blade he forges with a serial number. Would you please read the number at the base of the blade?"

Bria turned the knife over. "It says… zero, zero, zero, zero, _one_." She gasped at the implication, staring back at Chrodechild.

Chrodechild smiled warmly back, and handed her the second knife. "And this is zero, zero, zero, zero, _two_. And yes, that means exactly what you think it does."

"The first two ever made…" whispered Bria in awe. She jumped up and hugged her parents, thanking them.

Fret's eyes grew distant in thought as he glanced down. "Not sure which one is which," he began pointing to the pair of knives, "but I used one of those two to deliver the deathblow against the One King."

"Your dad owns three and four," added Marica. She told the story of getting caught in a melee battle against an Order soldier with only her bow and nearly being killed before Fret saved her. She explained how his awkward attempt to throw his black blade to do so prompted her to design a knife that was equal parts self-defense for a ranged fighter and a ranged option for a melee fighter.

"Hey guys," said Jale, looking around the room, "Not to be a downer, but it's really late and I think most of are fading at this point. Did you want to read that journal you were talking about earlier?"

Fret's expression turned slightly downcast again. "Sure… errr… I forgot to get it when I went upstairs earlier."

"I'll get it… be right back," Marica said, standing up from the table and walking towards the still operational lift in the castle's main entrance hall.


	48. Farewell

Everyone looked at Fret, who appeared uncomfortable again. "Sorry…" he mumbled, "Just thinking of things I hadn't thought about in a long time. Why were we reading my old journal again, anyway?"

"Your reaction to seeing your old armor, and why you locked it away in the first place," Erin reminded gently.

"Ahhh… yeah… Wyl, I want you to know that I don't mind you having my old armor. I just wasn't prepared to see it again, especially not on you."

"I take it I remind you of yourself in it?"

"Wyl," explained Erin, "I know you've had people tell you most of your life how much you look like your dad, but if we could somehow stand you up here right now next to Fret in that same armor from 17 years ago… no one would be able to tell you two apart. So that has all of us a bit out of sorts, your dad especially. I have a feeling though the other part about the armor will be explained by your mom when she gets back."

The younger Asad spoke up. "In the _Hall of Heroes_ in the royal palace there is a portrait Lord Fret in that same armor, battling an enemy mage on the castle parapet. Wyl looks just like him in that picture."

"Nuh uh, no way…" said Fret, scoffing playfully. "Just drop the 'Lord' stuff right now, kid."

The adults at the table laughed in response. "I am sorry children," Chrodechild chuckled, "We should have reminded you that Fret does not have much use for formal titles. But yes, that portrait is of him, depicting his leading the forces to reclaim our kingdom from the Order of the One True Way. We may never have gotten our home back if not for Fret. Even if he has always refused to take credit for it, I shall never forget what he did for us."

"Chrodechild…" he groaned.

Asad raised his hand, smiling. "Just accept the compliment, Fret. You've always been too selfless for your own good."

"Fine…" he groused, scowling playfully again before breaking into a grin. "Just don't go turning it into some stage play or something."

Chrodechild and Asad glanced at each other, chuckling nervously. Fret groaned again at their reaction, knowing it was already too late. "You're _killing_ me…"

* * *

Marica returned carrying a short stack of carefully folded parchment. "Fret, I thought about it on the way back down. Can I let Jale or Erin read it out loud? I know me, I'm absolutely going to cry during it," she admitted sheepishly.

Fret chuckled, nodding wordlessly.

"Uh oh, if it's crying worthy you'd better give it to Jale and not me," said Erin in jest. Marica laughed, handing the journal over to Jale and taking a seat in Fret's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her head on top of his while pressing his head into the crook of her neck.

Jale cleared his throat and began to read.

_Where to start? Maybe with how it's Erin's fault that I'm writing this in the first place? She suggested that organizing and writing down my thoughts about stuff would help me get out of this post-war funk I've been in. Marica thought it was a great idea and has been hounding me ever since. Soooo….._

"Time out!" exclaimed Erin. "_My _fault? You actually wrote that?"

Fret laughed. "Hey, now. No interrupting! I probably said horrible things about everyone back then."

Jale chuckled softly before starting once again to read.

_It's been several seasons now since we defeated the One King. With each passing day the bustle around the castle grows less and less. At first, other than the groups that had a definite home to return to, most of the Starbearers were excited to stay on and keep Cherem Company going. But as the weeks and seasons have passed, many have grown restless and are moving on. I suppose it is to be expected, there is no longer a common goal to keep us united, and there are only so many job requests coming in to keep people busy. Still, it makes me sad at times to see what we had falling apart. Saying goodbye to some Starbearers is harder than others, but I almost wish that everyone still here that was going to leave would go ahead and go, as if having them all leave at once would be less painful than this steady trickling out the door. _

_Some of the first groups to leave were ones that I had the strongest bonds with. The Blades of Night's Veil along with Asad's mage army crew returned to Pharamond a couple of days after getting back from the final battle. It was important to resume the rule of Astrasia, and they were going to be leading the rebuilding of Cynas, but it still hurt watching them leave so soon. I know Chrodechild will be a great queen though. She's been a great leader as long as I've known her, and I think I've rubbed off on her in a good way in understanding and relating to people. One of my favorite memories of her will always be when in Salsabil she finally allowed herself to loosen up and be silly, even if she did threaten to kill me on that trip! That was also the trip when matchmaker Erin succeeded in getting her and Asad together. Those two are great together, and he should be able to keep a reign on those uptight tendencies of hers. I expect them to get married as soon as things settle back down in Pharamond. More than anything I hope we stay close as the years pass. I'll never forget that it was Chrodechild and Asad that led the Magedom forces that saved our skin at the beginning of our adventures, offering their help when Fergus and Conon were about to kill us on the way back from Cynas the first time, and then offering to help defend Citro without expecting anything in return. They've been great mentors and friends ever since._

_The Furious Roar left early on for Cragbark, which was also expected. I know they made do as best they could with the food selection in this region and were excited to return to hunting Pekklar on the Marsinah Plains, but I miss their companionship. Diulf and Lycia especially, even if she did try to kill me once. Is there some kinda pattern with females wanting to kill me? I'd better ask Marica… (she says yes, and that I should write that "it's only because I deserve it." Hmph!). I'll never forget Servillah and Lycia catching up with us in the dead of night to make sure we were alright during the desert world fusion on the way to El-Qaral. Mostly I'll never forget Cougar, the first non-human friend I ever had. Unless you count Liu of course. I've never figured out if the Scribes are human or not. They look human, but they talk down about humans like they aren't human themselves. I should probably just ask Liu one of these days. _

_Speaking of Liu, he and Len-Lien are still here, but it's only a matter of time before they go to join Luo-Tao and the others. He hasn't said anything specific to me about returning to the Scribe village, but I know he has to go take up his role as Elder Scribe before long. Liu has been with me through thick and thin for 5 years now, maybe he's dreading going our separate ways as much as I am. I suspect when he does leave that we'll talk about staying close but won't. The Scribes are traditionally very secretive and live isolated from the rest of the world, and I don't see Liu changing that. He's a great friend and very smart, but his leadership skills are suspect. I'm just not sure that he won't give into pressure from the old guard and go back to their old ways. I wish he didn't have to go. I hope he and Len-Lien have a long, happy life together though. _

_The Porpos-kin returned to Naineneis at the same time the Furious Roar left. The Auster Folk left the same day, making it the biggest exodus we experienced. A few days later the Ritterschild trio left, along with the Starbearers from the Empire of the North Star. Shams, Manaril, Mubal, and Nuzhat went back to Salsabil after a season. I'm kinda glad they took the Dreambeast machine with them. I didn't want to hurt Nuzhat's feelings (if that's even possible), but training against illusions that can kill you wasn't my idea of a good time. Shams will be a good king when he eventually takes over for his dad. For a young guy he's wise beyond his years. I hope Mana finds happiness in something other than playing sidekick to her brother. I heard she's going to teach mage arts at an academy in Salsabil. Hopefully cranky old Nuzhat doesn't crush her spirit. _

_Many of the smaller groups and individuals have left gradually. The latest to leave were the Dromon Pirates, who took off the other day. I really liked those guys. I'll always remember Xebec teaching us how to throw knives. At the time I did it to humor Marica and because it just sounded like fun. Little did I know how important that skill would become._

_Sometimes I lay awake at night and wonder what the future holds for us. Will I awaken one day and the only ones left here are Marica and me? Will we even stay at that point? I can't see us going back to live in Citro Village, our lives have changed too much. Jale and Erin are getting married soon, will they stay here or move to Grayridge? I'm afraid to ask. Erin is as close to a sister as I've got, I love her to death. And other than Marica, the person I most can't imagine missing from my life is Jale. The absolute worst part of our adventures was when I almost ruined our friendship by blabbing to Erin that Jale was in love with her in front of them and Marica, then followed that up with making Marica so mad at me the she left for another world right before a huge battle to recover stolen Chronicles from the Order. And after she returned days later I was convinced that she was done with me. I ended up having to trick Jale into trying to kill me to get him to forgive me. I'm still half surprised Marica didn't finish the job at the end. _

_I've never told anyone this, but after I left Marica's room crushed that day and then got told off yet again by Jale immediately afterwards, I went to my room and ripped off my sky blue armor and threw it on the bed along with my black blades. I grabbed my old red leather armor and cudgel out of the closet, the same gear I started the adventure with. I suppose I was trying to be dramatic about throwing away everything I'd gained in my adventures, already feeling like I threw away my friends. Bah, maybe I really am as emo as my friends tease me about being. After dressing I scribbled out a quick "I'm sorry for everything, good luck and goodbye" note that I left on the table, and prepared to walk out the door and never come back. I guess I figured someone else would take over leading Cherem Company and I'd just do my own thing solo against the Order, at least until I got myself killed. Not that I really cared either away about living or dying right then. As I turned to walk out the door I looked at my cudgel and remembered that Elder Rajim gave it to me, which reminded me of Marica. So I threw it on the floor and walked out empty handed. I vividly recall arriving downstairs and seeing Liu, Len-Lien, Erin, and Buchse in the entrance hall, and realized that I'd completely forgotten I had already committed to meeting them for a mission, and that my parting shot to Jale before storming off was for him to gear up and be downstairs in 30 minutes (I might have had a few curse words in the original phrasing of it). When it quickly became apparent that Jale had stood me up and had Buchse take his place, I got so mad that I forgot all about intending to leave in the first place and chased after Jale, leading to the fight and to having him, Erin, and Marica forgive me. It's hard to imagine just how different things would've have turned out if I did leave that day. _

"Dude… this is getting a little awkward here," admitted Jale as he paused and looked up from the pages in his hands.

Fret nodded. "I'd forgotten all the stuff I rambled about. Anyway, it is what it is. Go ahead and keep reading."

_I suppose one of the biggest differences if I'd left is that Marica wouldn't be pregnant with my child right now. We only found out a week ago, and we haven't told anyone yet. Only Eunice knows, she's the one that confirmed it for us. It's killing us to keep it a secret, but Jale and Erin are getting married next week and we don't want our news to take any attention away from them. They deserve to have everyone focused on them on their day. We'll tell our family and friends a few days after Jale and Erin are off on their honeymoon, and tell them when they get back. I wonder what kind of dad I'll be. Will I be a cool dad that kids love doing stuff with? Will I bust them on all their schemes because anything they can come up with I've already pulled as a kid? Ugh! It's official, I'm scared. I can only hope we have another Marica and not another me. We've already decided that if we have a boy we'll name him Wyl, and if it's a girl it will be Bria, after Marica's mom. _

"Ha!" Asad interrupted. "Little did you know then that you were actually going to have twins."

Fret and Marica laughed. "Guess it was good we had both names picked out," Marica said, grinning.

Jale resumed reading.

_What happens when two Starbearers have children, anyway? Will our children inherit any of that? I guess it's too late to have one of the other couples be the test subjects on that one. _

_After talking with the others, we've made the decision to put the remaining Chronicles in the basement and seal it off. Some day someone will no doubt find them, but for now it seems like the safest thing to do. They have no more use for us Starbearers, and the war with the Order is still too fresh for us not to be concerned about them falling into the wrong hands. Tuhululu asked if there are always only 108 Starbearers, does it mean that when a Starbearer dies their star moves on to someone else in the world. We don't know how exactly it works, but that sounds reasonable. So then the little bastard asked what's to stop someone evil from getting a hold of one or more Chronicles and then killing off Starbearers that won't do what he wants until he gets the stars transferred to people who will follow. It sounds ridiculous, but it stirred up a surprising amount of concern from a number of Starbearers. That's another reason we're locking the Chronicles away, to protect the Starbearers from being targeted. _

_I told Marica that when we seal away the Chronicles in the basement, I'm putting the sky blue armor in with them. She wasn't happy with me for it, and me being me I made her even madder by suggesting the only reason she cared was that she got turned on by seeing me in it. After she calmed down she told me that while that was true, it wasn't why she was upset. She said she was upset because I was running from my problems rather than dealing with them. Maybe she's right, but this is just easier. When Jale, Marica, and I originally found the chest with the armor in it while exploring the castle, we had no idea where it came from or the significance behind it. Jale gave it to me to wear simply because it fit me and not him, and I wore it because it looked cool and was a heck of a lot nicer than the armor I had at the time. After I'd put it on, we all remembered the guy we saw in the vision from Shining Legacy, and that he was wearing something similar. But we didn't know who the guy was, or what the vision was about. We hadn't even heard of the One King at that point. _

_We learned a lot more along the way about the visions and what was going on, and when our friend Atrie came to visit from his world a little while later he told us that the armor belonged to his friend, the guy he used to come and visit in this very castle. The guy that none of us could explain what had happened to, because the castle just kind of showed up in place of the ruins during a world fusion. Atrie said I kinda looked like the guy, except his friend was much older. I didn't think much of it at the time. Slowly though the clues began to come together. Leading up to the siege of Cynas and taking out the old kook, Valfred, Atrie told me more about his older friend that had lived at the castle and wore the sky blue armor. He told me that the man and his wife had a son, but that the baby was lost in some kind of freak accident with a gateway portal. I had never told Atrie my background. He knew that I was unable to use the gateways to travel to other worlds, but I'd never said that the Wanderers told me it meant I wasn't from this world. And I didn't tell him that I was found as a baby and raised in Citro Village, and that no one knew where I came from. So what Atrie didn't realize was that he casually devastated me with the news that his friend he used to visit in this castle was my birth father! I only vaguely remember staggering into the tavern in a haze after leaving Atrie and then waking up in the medical clinic in the middle to the night to find Marica and Erin sitting up watching over me. They filled me in that I'd sat down at the bar and freaked out Logan and Erin, babbling and not making sense. Logan apparently threw me over his shoulder and carried me up to Zahra's. They thought I'd snapped under the pressure of being asked to potentially sacrifice the other 107 Starbearers in a massive unit attack to defeat the One King, a unite attack that would only leave one star left alive – me. _

_It wasn't until the next night that I actually snapped though. According to Marica I thrashed around quite a bit in my sleep. She said she just held me and cried, scared for me and scared about dying if I united all of the stars. She knew I was having nightmares about it, that sacrificing everyone went against everything I believed in, even if it was the only way to defeat the One King. I remember waking up in a cold sweat screaming in terror. We'd had all the pieces from the various Chronicles, but they were all jumbled out of order and seen over many seasons. In my nightmares it was like putting together the puzzle, and I finally saw all of the visions from all of the Chronicles pieced together into a complete picture. Zenoa had once said something in passing that had nothing to do with Starbearers, and suddenly those words echoed over the visions I saw, over and over in my head like the tolling of a bell – "Where there are many stars, the future holds many possibilities. Where there is but one star, only one future remains." Suddenly it all made sense, the One King was the result of combining all of a world's 108 stars. The One King was the Tenkai Star that was left! And every time a world attacked the current One King that way and won, the Tenkai Star became the new One King. One star, one king, one future. _

_That would have been great if that's all I figured out. But from the vision from Shining Legacy I knew… I knew that the man in the sky blue armor… the Tenkai Star of his world… my birth father… was the One King. I knew my birth father wasn't strong enough to resist the urge to unite all 108 stars, and that he became the One King as a result. I cried in pity for him, I screamed in hatred for him. Marica stayed up with me the whole night consoling me, trying to hold me together. As much as I drive her crazy, I hope she knows how much I need her. She's better than I deserve. I talked it over with Liu, Marica, and Jale the next morning, telling them that we were definitely not combining all the stars. We were going to fight the One King straight up with all we had. Liu suggested that we keep the part about the One King being my father a secret, saying it was an unnecessary detail that could cause more problems than it was worth if other people knew. I was skeptical and wanted to at least tell the people closest to me, but when the others agreed with him I went along with it. I was too emotionally shot to argue anyway. The only compromise was that I insisted Erin know because I didn't want Jale stuck in a bad situation with us having to keep the secret from her. It would have just been awkward to have to be careful what was said around her. I told Liu he should tell Len-Lien as well, but he disagreed. He said that they rarely talked about personal stuff like that involving other people. I guess the Scribes are weird in that way. To this day the 5 of us are the only ones that know the truth about the One King and me._

_The battle went on as planned, and the combined forces of Cherem Company plus the Starbearers from Atrie's world and the other Marica's world took down the One King. I'm happy that we saved our worlds and the Infinity, but it's hard not to have some regret about the whole thing, even though I couldn't have done anything to save him. At times I still have stray thoughts about him, trying to humanize the One King back into my father. I wonder if my birth mother was a Starbearer as well and threw away her life needlessly. Or did he just kill her along with the rest of their world. I wonder if anything would have been different if I hadn't been lost to them. Would I have given him the extra strength he needed to resist sacrificing the other Starbearers? Did losing me cause him to give up hope? I know I shouldn't feel this way, even without my friends telling me I shouldn't, but in some ways I feel guilty. About being related to the person that caused so much destruction as the One King. About my possible role in him making the decision that resulted in him becoming the One King in the first place. About hiding it from almost everyone. About not being able to save him and having to kill him. I feel guilty about feeling so guilty about a father I never knew, like having these strong feelings is somehow disrespectful to my "real" dad, Elder Rajim. Like I'm giving the birth father I never knew too much importance and not giving Elder Rajim enough. Strangely enough, the guilt I no longer feel is for the death of Kaari. It's like saving the world validated her sacrifice for me. Maybe I should feel guilty for no longer feeling guilty._

_Even as the final battle details fade from most of our memories, I'm having a hard time gaining "closure" as Erin puts it. I know that's why she suggested I write all this down. Putting on the sky blue armor now often gives me flashbacks of the vision of Shining Legacy, where I see my father in the armor, standing in front of the One King with a defiant glare before shouting and charging forward in the unite attack. That image barely fades before I see his face in the garb of the One King. It makes it hard for me to focus when I'm wearing the armor, and I know my companions sense there's something wrong with me. Marica tries to be a rock for me, but she knows as well as I do that it's something only I can get through. Knowing that the presence of the sky blue armor triggers so many of these haunting thoughts, like it or not I think it's for the best if I seal it away with the Chronicles. I'll just wear the Hero Armor I got in the Statue of the One King, it's better armor anyway. I know locking the sky blue armor won't make me forget about it, and I know that I'm not really solving the problem as much as avoiding it. Maybe years from now when the One King no longer haunts me I'll dig it back out and wear it again. Or maybe I'll pass it on to our kids. Either way, I just feel like I need to be away from the sky blue armor for now. For how long, I don't know._

_I don't know what the future holds for me. Hopefully many years of happiness with Marica and our children, other family, and friends. People joke with me about it, but it really does feel weird being 17 years old and knowing I'll never accomplish anything greater in my life than what I've already done. Or knowing that in close to two years fighting the Order of the One True Way I've accumulated a magnificent castle for a home, an amazing wife, and more potch than I could spend even if I lived to be 100. What does a teenager who doesn't want for anything and who has accomplished everything do with the rest of their life?_

_Many seasons ago Marica and I joked about living to see our 50__th__ anniversary, and about our kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids gathering around and begging for us to tell the story of saving the world from the One King for the thousandth time. At the time it sounded like the most obvious thing to be proud of and want to retell over and over. I have to admit, right now I wonder how long it will be before I retell the story even once. You read about heroes in storybooks doing amazing things, but the stories always end right after the hero saves the day. You never find out how going through something so life altering changes them. You don't realize how much they suffer for it, where even in victory and with the world celebrating them, they just wish for it to go away and for things to go back to how they used to be. You don't realize that being singled out and tugged on everywhere they go wears on them, that the fame isn't all it's cracked up to be, and that sometimes the hero just wants to a regular guy and not constantly reminded that he isn't. Unless, of course, you're the Hero. And then you understand that saving the world comes at a cost that runs deeper than simply living and dying. And on the best days you smile and feel proud of what you accomplished. And on the worst days you selfishly wish you hadn't. And so you live on, drawing strength from those you love and those who love you, and hope you have many more best days than worst days._

_Fret, on the 21__st__ day of Sprout season, 108 days after the fall of Cynas and the One King_

* * *

Jale finished reading, quietly refolding the pages and setting them down on the table in front of him. For a couple of minutes no one spoke as they all thought about what Jale had read. Finally, Fret couldn't take the awkwardness and broke the ice.

"So who all's up for slitting their wrists after _that_ uplifting story?" he asked with mock excitement. No one laughed, though Asad at least smiled politely.

"Does at least help if I tell you guys I'm not nearly as much of a head case now as I was when I wrote that stuff?"

"It's been almost 16 years, dude, I'd hope not," said Jale, forcing a grin. "But seriously… wow… even I didn't know about how much you went through back then."

"I-I cannot believe the One King was your father," whispered Chrodechild hoarsely in disbelief.

Asad hung his head slightly. "My friend, you should have let us help you after it was all over. You did not need to continue carrying that burden."

"D-dad…" said Wyl softly, guilt weighing heavily on his mind, "When mom went upstairs to get the journal, you said that you were thinking about some things you hadn't thought about in a long time. D-did me wearing this armor cause you to have flashbacks about your father and the One King again?"

Fret nodded solemnly. "I hadn't seen that vision in a lot of years." He admitted softly, "I've seen it a few times tonight since you first entered the tavern." Smiling weakly at Marica, he said, "I guess you were right after all, hun, avoiding the issue didn't resolve it, it only put off dealing with it." She hugged him tighter.

"Dad, I'm sorry!" cried Wyl. "I'll go change and put this armor back downstairs…"

Fret shook his head. "You will _not_ feel guilty, Wyl. You had no way of knowing. I _will_ get over my problem, it's not your fault I didn't listen to your mom and deal with it before you were born." Smiling genuinely, Fret added, "Besides, you look pretty damn cool in it. Almost as cool as I did!" This time everyone did laugh at his joke, even though his friends knew Fret was just being Fret and trying to lighten the mood.

"Hey! Almost?" asked Wyl, "I thought you guys said I look just like you did?"

"Yeah, but you _aren't _me, so that costs you some coolness points right off the top," replied Fret, grinning wickedly. Wyl grinned back, relieved to see his dad's mood improving.

Chrodechild added, "It is one thing to go around looking like a legend, but it is another to fight like him. You have your work cut out for you, do you think you are up to the challenge?"

Wyl nodded. "I am, Queen Chrodechild. I want to do this, I want to follow in dad's footsteps. I may never have to save the world, but I want to be worthy of his legacy, and to establish a worthy legacy of my own."

"Worthy goals, indeed," agreed Chrodechild. "Perhaps one day you will make a fine commander of the Blades of Night's Veil yourself."

Wyl's eyes grew wide as possibilities of the future danced through his head. He glanced down at his hand, still intertwined with Hildegard's. _"Commander of the Blades of Night's Veil and with a beautiful princess for a wife,_" he thought to himself.

Hildegard saw Wyl's head turn, and glanced up. She made eye contact right as Wyl was thinking about her as his future mate. She instantly caught what he didn't even intend to communicate to her but had anyway, and she gulped in realization that she knew without a doubt she was looking into the eyes of her husband-to-be.

The wordless exchange didn't go unnoticed by the adults, even at this late hour. They all smiled at each other knowingly. Fret and Marica, Jale and Erin, Asad and Chrodechild. Each husband and wife looked at each other, and looked at their respective children. Without saying anything, they all understood. Their own parts in the story had largely been told, but their children's stories were just beginning. And their futures burned brightly, thanks to the reluctant leader and his motley crew of Starbearers that had given the world its future back.

* * *

Fret, the leader who never asked to lead, the hero who never asked to be the hero, would wake later that day in his wife's arms, and she would see the special gleam in his eyes that had been missing for far too long. And when she asked him about it, he would tell her that he'd finally been able to lay his demons to rest, he was free. That tomorrow for him was no longer going to be his personal future without a future, bound to the past and always on the run from it in his mind. Because at last he fully embraced that the future they'd given back to the world was his too. And when they cried together right then, the tears were of joy. And that 50th anniversary gathering and retelling the tale of saving the world from the One King no longer seemed so farfetched. Because where there were many stars, many possibilities existed. And where many possibilities existed, you'd never know how things were going to turn out until you tried.

* * *

**AN: With this, we have finally reached the end. I hope those of you who stuck around until the end enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Special thanks to those that have reviewed, sent me PMs, or favorited the story. And thanks to everyone who took the time to read it. **


End file.
